You Can Start Again
by cyharding
Summary: After 4th Impact was averted, Shinji is taken to a city where he begins to find some peace with the world and even with himself. And while the city is a place where he can find hope, it is also a place where there are those who have plans for him.
1. Chapter 1

It wasn't more than a day in their journey on foot before the three of them were picked up by a VTOL craft. Shinji boarded the craft and Asuka set him in a spot near the window. He didn't pay any attention to what was happening around him as he was still within his mind, reliving that awful moment again and again,seeing the detonation as clear as if it just happened, consumed by the shock and guilt of it all. He spent the trip staring out the window looking down at the wasteland that was once his home country. In the background, he could hear Asuka and other people talking with each other, but he didn't pay any attention to what they were talking about. Shinji was only brought back to the real world, and it wasn't by a large degree either, when the aircraft flew through a cloud and when it came out the other side, he found himself staring not at a red wasteland, but a city.

The metropolis was surrounded by a large circular wall as high as many of the skyscrapers that were contained within it. The buildings within were ringed by forest and greenery. Highways, rail lines, and aircraft in the air crisscrossed each other going from one ring to another. Shinji leaned closer to the window to get a better look at the city spread out under him. The aircraft descended as it approached the center on a landing strip at the base of a tower, the height of the building extending above the outer wall.

Shinji took no notice of either the sound of the engines cooling down or of the people on board getting up in order to disembark. His focus on what was happening outside his window was interrupted by Asuka grabbing his arm to bring him out of the craft. Asuka, Shinji, the one modeled after Rei Ayanami, as well as a few other people, stood on the tarmac as they were approached by a platoon of soldiers. At the head of the platoon was a man in a business suit. He was young, appearing no older than his late 20s. Compared to the more disciplined and assertive walking of the platoon, he walked in a more easygoing matter, his focus more on the computer tablet in his hand than on his surroundings. It was only when he was a few feet from the Children did he stop and look up at them.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Captain," he said to Asuka in Japanese though his American accent could be discerned.

"I should thank you for rescuing us, Vice-Commander," Asuka replied. "Have you heard anything about the Wunder?"

"She's already here," the vice-commander stated. She's being put in dry dock as we speak. She took a bit of a beating in the engagement. Estimates for repairs are about three weeks or so." He tapped at the tablet.

"What about Unit 02?" she asked.

"Both it and Unit 08 have been retrieved. Unit 08 appears to have taken significant damage. As for Unit 02…" he took a second look at the data again. "We were surprised we retrieved as much as we did. I haven't heard yet from Dr. Akagi on what can be done to get them back in action, but we hope to hear from her soon." He glanced at both Shinji and the pilot of the Mark 9. He gestured with his fingers to the soldiers, who proceeded to take them to the tower.

"I have already arranged for the VTOL to take you back to the Wunder," he continued as he went back to concentrating on his tablet. "You are relieved Captain. Take it easy, okay?" Asuka stood there for a moment tilting her head a little to maintain her view of Shinji getting taken away.

"What's going to happen with the brat?" she asked. The Vice-Commander looked up from his tablet at her, his eyes narrowed to a glare.

"I said you're relieved." His tone was cold and direct. The two stared at each other for several seconds before Asuka turned around and marched back to the aircraft. The Vice-Commander watched the vessel fly off before he walked back to the tower.

Over the next couple of weeks, Shinji was questioned by several people about his time at Nerv headquarters. At first, he couldn't give them the answers they wanted; one reason was that he didn't know the answer, and the other reason was that he couldn't explain too well what he did know, the trauma he experienced was still affecting his mind. The best that they could get out of him were either one-word-only answers or the yes-and-no type. As time went on, he was able to come out of himself a little more and answer in greater detail. Even then, the information that he gave was limited. While they did glean some information on the workings of Nerv, it wasn't enough to form any sort of strategy to use against them. Even the knowledge obtained from the Ayanami type was not sufficient enough to be useful. During this time he was confined, but it was considered comfortable with his room including a bed, desk and a few books, though they weren't touched too often.

Several days after he arrived, Shinji was escorted to an office and told to wait there. When he was alone, he looked around noting the bare desk and the general emptiness of the room. But what caught his attention was the large window that looked out onto the city. He walked over to it and gazed at the scene that was in front of him. He took note of where the streets and buildings were and how they connected to each other. He also saw people, though they looked minute from where he was standing, in their comings and goings. Shinji began to wonder if the sight that was before him was even real. He thought that a place such as this shouldn't even exist. Any further thoughts that would have had on the matter were interrupted by a voice that came from behind him.

"You should see it from the top of the building here. The view is spectacular." Shinji turned around to see the Vice-Commander standing at the doorway, a pleasant smile on his face.

"What is the name of this place?" Shinji asked him.

"The official name is New Constantinople," the Vice-Commander replied. "I find it weird though since we are in what was once Japan, you would think that it should have a Japanese name. Hell, some were arguing during construction that it should be called New Atlantis; their argument being that the design is similar to what was described of the legendary city, but that would have been even more stupid. We're nowhere near the ocean, let alone the Atlantic."

"I see," Shinji responded, not knowing what to make of the man's story. "Thank you um…"

"Oh right," the Vice-Commander said. "How could I forget? Stanley Burke, Vice-Commander of the Wille branch here. A pleasure." He stretched out his hand in greeting. Shinji looked at him with a confused look on his face.

"Crap, I forgot the Japanese bow," Burke said retracting his hand and replacing it with a bow, which Shinji reciprocated. "Have a seat." Burke made his way to his desk chair while Shinji took a seat on the other side.

"So," Burke began, "are you comfortable? Is there anything that we forgot to provide to you during your time here?" Shinji shook his head. "I'm going to order some tea. I'll get a cup for you too." Shinji gave no answer as he made the order. Though he was looking at the Vice-Commander, his eyes were focused on the window and what lay outside.

"Um…how many more cities like this are there?" he asked.

"Well…there are several," Burke replied. "Some as nice as this one, others a bit smaller. There are even cities that survived both second and third impacts. I hear Zurich is nice this time of year. Why do you ask?"

"So…the world isn't destroyed?" Shinji asked.

"It's not as great as it once was, but there's still a decent amount left."

"Well, I…I was told that it was me who…" Shinji blurted out, but couldn't continue as Burke interrupted him.

"Wait, wait, time out. Who said you destroyed the world?"

"Kaworu," Shinji replied wincing at the memory that was still too strong and too painful. The Vice-Commander then leaned back in his chair and let out a breath.

"Nagisa," he muttered with a fair amount of venom in his voice. He leaned forward and looked straight as Shinji.

"Listen to me," Burke said. "Whatever you have been told about what happened during your time inside Unit 01, you did not receive a complete picture. Part of that, while unintentional, was done by some members of our organization. But it looks like now you were misled while you were at Nerv."

"But Dr. Akagi said that I was being punished." Shinji moved his around his neck where the DSS choker once was.

"Ritsuko Akagi. A brilliant mind, but she has a terrible bedside manner," Burke said more to himself than to Shinji. He put his head in his hands and took a deep breath before raising it up again to face him. He didn't want to have this conversation right now. It was too soon. He took another breath while he chose his words.

"Shinji, the offense that she was talking about is that you took the Eva's power for yourself. An Evangelion is an engine that can manifest the will of its pilot." Shinji looked at him in confusion.

"Engine? Manifest my will?"

"Maybe I didn't translate the right words," Burke said. He stopped when a Wille officer came into he office carrying a tray with two cups of tea, which he set on the table. Burke waited until he left before he started to speak again. "What I'm saying is that you have the ability to awaken an Eva, and it will grant what you desire the most. And you used that ability the wrong way. I will give you further details later on. Not because we want to keep you in the dark, but that you need more time before you are ready. For the moment, take in what I've told you now. To tell you the truth, we should be grateful you didn't awaken Unit 01 earlier than you did."

"I could have awakened it earlier?" Shinji asked.

"The way you handled yourself in the fights against the Angels could have allowed an awakening," Burke replied.

"I don't understand. I defeated the Angels," Shinji said. Burke then activated a keyboard that appeared on his desk and began typing. Within, thirty seconds, a holographic screen appeared between the two. On the screen, was a still image of Unit 01 stabbing the Fifth Angel.

"When you engaged the Fifth Angel, you ignored a direct order to retreat, placing not only yourself but two of your friends in immediate danger." He pressed a couple more keys bringing up a still of the Sixth Angel. "With the Sixth Angel, you initially refused to deploy, even though the operation was based around an extremely strict timetable." Shinji did not have anything to say in reply. Burke continued on, now bringing up a picture of Unit 03. "With the Ninth Angel, it was your refusal to engage that led to the injury of Captain Shikinami and—"

"That wasn't me!" Shinji yelled. "It was Father. He was the one who—"

"If you had fought, the dummy plug wouldn't have been activated and there might have been less damage all around," Burke countered. Shinji closed his mouth as the Vice-Commander hit the keys once more. "Of course, anyone would understand how you felt over what happened but," now the screen showed a video of Unit 01 on top of Nerv's pyramid stomping on it, "this was not the way to deal with it. By the time the Tenth Angel attacked, who would have been surprised that you would awaken Unit 01 then?" Shinji shrunk in his chair, head down, not looking at Burke.

"What…was I supposed to do?" he asked. Burke leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.

"As the Bard put it kid, there's the rub," he replied. "At the time, no one outside of your father or sub-commander Fuyutsuki would have known what could have happened."

"This is why no one wants me the pilot the Eva?" Shinji looked up towards him. Burke nodded yes.

"You have a very great and very dangerous power," he added. "When it comes down to it, you're too unpredictable to pilot at this time. There is more to say, but like I said, it's best to wait for a while." Shinji remained silent for several minutes thinking over what Burke said to him, his tea growing cold. The Vice-Commander waited, sipping his tea, not doing or saying anything to disturb Shinji's contemplation. The boy then raised his head up again.

"What's going to happen to me now?" he asked. Burke was about to answer when he was interrupted.

"I'm glad you asked that Shinji," a voice that sounded familiar to him said. The two turned towards the source, with Burke standing up as well.

"Commander," he said. "I didn't hear you come in." As the Commander drew closer to him, Shinji's eyes widened at the man he was seeing. He had more than a few wrinkles on his face and there were streams of silver-gray in his hair, but Shinji could still recognize him.

"Kaji?" he said, not quite believing it.

"In the flesh," he replied. "It's good to see you again."

"You're in charge here?" Shinji asked him.

"I know. Some days, I have trouble believing it," Burke remarked. Kaji gave a slight smile.

"Indeed," he said. "By all rights, Katsuragi should be the one running the place, but you can't keep that woman off the field." At the mention of her name, Shinji appeared as if he was going to break down once again.

"I'm sorry," he said in a voice that while it was louder than a whisper, was still hard to hear him. "I couldn't do what you asked of me." Kaji did hear him.

"I know, but you did what you knew you could, and I do appreciate it." Shinji looked up towards him.

"Now," Kaji continued, "as for your future…" he looked towards Burke, who grabbed his tablet and began to bring up information. Shinji was growing afraid over what was going to happen to him and those few seconds of silence seemed to stretch into timelessness.

"Ah, here we are," Burke said more to himself than to the other people in the room. "The fact of the matter is we won't be able to get Shinji into school until the beginning of the new term which is about five months away. It's also a good idea to wait a little bit anyway because you still need to get up to speed with life here. So, we are giving you a tutor for the time being.

"School?" Shinji asked him.

"Yes," Burke replied. "Despite what it says on your birth certificate, you are for all intents and purposes 14 years old. Now as far as your living arrangements…" He began tapping at the tablet.

"I think it's a good idea that he should live with someone. A roommate," Kaji stated. Burke looked up from his tablet.

"If we could find someone who could be a good fit for him, it might be a matter worth pursuing," he replied.

"Excellent," Kaji declared. "I'm sure you and Shinji will get along great." Burke remained silent for a good thirty seconds as Kaji's words sunk into him.

"I'm sorry sir, could you repeat that?" was his only response.

"Shinji should stay with you," Kaji said. "It's not like you have anyone else at your place."

"That's because I've been so busy, I'm barely there to begin with," Burke countered. "No offense to Shinji, but outside of when he first arrived in the city, this is the first time he and I met."

"If I remember correctly, that didn't stop him moving in with a stranger before," Kaji said. Burke wasn't done yet.

"Certainly as you already know him, you could take him in Commander." Kaji just shook his head no.

"He wouldn't want to hang out with an old man like me," he said. "It's normal for two young bachelors to be roommates." Burke was starting to run out of arguments.

"Well, what if I wanted to bring a girl back to my apartment one night?"

"One, from what I know of your dating record, that doesn't appear to have happened yet. Two, even if you did, I'm sure the lady would be so impressed by what you're doing for Shinji it'll work out for you in the end." Burke could only shake his head in dumbfoundment, his face a little red at the slight insult.

"Commander's orders," Kaji continued. "Trust me, this will be good for the both of you."

"Very well sir," Burke replied not sounding enthusiastic. "I believe I can move him in as early as this evening. Is that all right with you Shinji?" The two adults turned to him.

"S…Sure," he answered not knowing if it was the correct answer.

"Great," Kaji stated. "I know you don't have many personal effects, but we'll pick them up in a little bit. Burke, can you see to it?" The Vice-Commander got on the line to make the request. Shinji then spoke up.

"What about the other pilot?" he asked them.

"Ah, the Ayanami type. She'll be remaining here," Burke said. "But she's not going to be confined like a prisoner. In fact, we can arrange for you to visit her when you want to. Do you wish to see her?" Shinji hesitated before he answered.

"No. Not right now."

"Oh..Okay, that's fine," Burke said. A female Wille officer had arrived by this point.

"Okay Shinji, just follow her and she'll get you all set up," Kaji said.

"Sure," Shinji bowed to them in farewell and the two watched him leave the office.

"Seriously?" Burke said to his superior. "He and I are going to be living together?" Kaji nodded yes in reply.

"I'll give it a try sir, but I can't guarantee things will work out," Burke carried on. "I just hope that we can do right by him after all he's been through."

"True," Kaji replied, "for he still may be mankind's best hope."

"But he has to agree to the plan," Burke said. "No lies, no manipulation. When the time comes, if it comes, we tell him the truth, and leave it to his judgment."

"Agreed," Kaji said, "but I have faith that if the worst come to worst, he'll make the right decision. Speaking of which, how is the Arbiter Program proceeding?"

"Ten percent behind schedule," Burke replied going back to his tablet. "With Shinji here, we might be able to start catching up."

"Good," Kaji said. "We just need the time to prepare."

"Can't count on it," Burke stated. "Based on the Wunder's report and what we were able to glean from Shinji and the Mark 09 pilot, Nerv might be closer to its goal than we are to ours."

"I know that, but we also have to hope that Katsuragi and her group are able to do something about it." Kaji paused for several seconds before speaking again as he stroked the stubble on his chin, as if he caught something in his words. "How do you think Katsuragi would react to our plan involving Shinji?"

"Not well," Burke replied. "The only unknown is whether she marches in the building to confront us or she saves herself the walk and crashes the Wunder into it."

"Do you want to place a bet on which option?" Kaji asked. The two of them chuckled over it, but Burke regained his previous composure.

"When should the Captain find out?" He asked. Kaji took a breath. He knew what the answer was, but he hated to say it out loud.

"When it's too late for her to do a damn thing about it."


	2. Chapter 2

After a few days, Shinji observed as he was cleaning the living room was that compared to Misato's old apartment, Burke's place was a lot more tidy, even if it was a bit on the dusty side. That feature was the first thing he noticed when he first had a look at all of the rooms when he moved in. There weren't piles of trash on the floor, nor empty beer cans and liquor bottles strewn about. Burke did have alcohol, but it was no more than two small bottles in a cabinet, and it didn't look like they had been opened in a while as the bottles had some dust on them as well.

He had explored other parts of the apartment too. The day before, after much hesitation and waiting until the man was gone, he ventured into Burke's bedroom. There wasn't too much to see at first. It contained what anyone would expect in a bedroom: a bed and a dresser and a closet which Shinji assumed had to contain clothes on hangers. There were also a few pictures on the wall. He saw what appeared to be members of his family and perhaps friends of his. It was one of those photographs that stood out to him. There was Burke, several years younger, in a Wille uniform like the ones he had seen on the Wunder. There were several others in the photo dressed similar to him, but there were two that Shinji recognized. One was Kaji and the other was Misato. She was smiling along with the others, and Shinji saw a trace of the woman he used to know, but he also saw that the smile was forced. There was very little of the light that he remembered of her in the photo. There was however, a good deal of the woman he met when he was on the Wunder.

Shinji had to admit that Burke's apartment was nice, but that there was also something off about it as well. The best word that he could find for this feeling was sterile. Burke as rule came home late and even then it was straight to bed, followed by getting up early the next morning. There were times he would take Shinji out to a few places around the city, but to Shinji, he acted more as a hired tour guide than someone enjoying their day off.

He concluded that Burke's apartment didn't have too much of that lived in feeling, unlike Misato's place, mess and all. Memories of his day-to-day life with her flooded back into the forefront of his mind. In reviewing those memories, Shinji thought not only of the time he had with Misato and the others, but on what could have been if he hadn't been absorbed into Unit 01. Would be have been out there right now fighting alongside them, he asked himself. Though he hated the thought of continuing to fight in the Eva, especially for as long as they have, he still felt sadness and guilt at the fact the choice was taken away from him as much by himself than by his father or anyone else for that matter. Shinji finished up his cleaning and laid down on the couch as soon fell asleep, those thoughts preventing his nap from being a peaceful one.

"Based on our most current estimates, the Wunder should be ready for launch within one week." Misato was giving this report to both Kaji and Burke over a direct line, the two men were seated in Kaji's office.

"That's good to hear," Kaji replied. "We can't wait to see you back out there, though it appears that Nerv has been quiet all this time. Long range observation hasn't reported any noticeable activity."

"After what happened recently, I don't like the fact that it's been so quiet," Misato stated. Burke was nodding his head in agreement.

"We need you to get a closer look at the area," he added. "Unfortunately, neither Unit 02 nor Unit 08 will be available. The fact that Dr. Akgai has a plan to repair them, I mean if we can even call it repairs, is quite audacious."

"It's the best option we have in so short of time," Misato answered, "unless you give us Units 10 and 11 in compensation."

"No can do," Kaji declared. "They're needed here in case of attack. It's also why your pilots will be stationed here on standby for them while you're gone."

"I'm sure they'll appreciate being able to stay in the city for a while longer. However, I'm not too keen on giving up my XO."

"Well, she is needed for supervising the repairs," Burke remarked. "Dr. Hood can give some assistance, but he has his own Evas to take care of." He went back to his tablet as Misato stared at him for a few moments until he looked up from his tablet, noticing what she was doing.

"Is something the matter Katsuragi?" Kaji asked.

"I…heard that Shinji is now living with you vice-commander." She said.

"That's correct," Burke replied. "It's been only a week, and there are still some things to work out, but I would like to think it's going fine so far."

"I see," Misato said followed by a pause. "How is he being monitored?"

"Intelligence has eyes on him," Burke answered. "He can leave my apartment when he wishes, I made sure to tell him that. I even showed him a convenience store within walking distance. So far, he hasn't gone anywhere on his own volition."

"That might be for the best. Could it be that you're giving him too much leeway?" Misato asked. Burke titled his head in confusion as he processed her question.

"I… don't understand your question Captain," Burke replied. "He's not using much of the leeway he has already. He can't leave the city by himself if that's what you mean, and if you think he could be recaptured by Nerv, they would have to stage a full scale attack on the city, unless you believe a Mark 04 can disguise itself as a janitor or something."

"What about being able to have access the Eva Units?" she asked. Burke's face was beginning to develop a scowl.

"Not possible," he replied. "Unless he has direct permission from either myself or the Commander, he can't enter the facility to use the men's room, let alone go to the Eva cages."

"We need to take every precaution-" Misato began to say before getting cut off by Burke.

"And speaking of precautions, I do have some questions regarding the ones you took."

"Questions?" she asked.

"During our interrogations, Shinji talked about the few hours that he spent aboard the Wunder. Let's just say he didn't paint too rosy of a picture of his encounter with bridge crew." The two men could tell she had gritted his teeth.

"There were circumstances beyond our control," as all she said.

"Circumstances you say? You had him brought to the bridge when he was still unable to know which way was up," Burke countered. "Why would you do something like that? Couldn't you have gone to where he was under lockdown?"

"We had to confirm if it was really him," Misato argued. "I was in no position to leave the bridge. We did have the Nemesis series after all."

"I more than understand that you and the crew were under tremendous strain during that battle, but I have been going through your report and the ship's log, and I found that the attack didn't happen until after he was brought to the bridge. So I'm asking again, why was he brought onto the bridge? Why couldn't it wait until the ship was relatively safe?" Misato took a breath before she answered him.

"The bridge was the safest place on the ship to calibrate the DSS System. And as I stated earlier, there was no solid confirmation that he is Shinji Ikari. I felt that it wasn't necessary for me to leave the bridge at that time." Burke didn't buy it, but he decided to let it side She was right that precautions needed to be made at that point. But as it is now certain that this is Shinji, he still couldn't get her reasoning.

"Even if your explanation is adequate," Burke stated, "one of the biggest problems I have with your handling of the matter is that when the Mark 09 attacked and was about to capture the boy, you threatened to blow his head off right in front of him. I'm surprised he didn't flip you off when he boarded it."

"You weren't there damn it!" She shouted at him. "The situation was becoming out of control. Something had to be done! But Ritz…she told me…to activate it…" She was beginning to shake from the influx of emotions.

"Enough of this!" Kaji said. "I'm sure everyone here can agree that what's done is done and there's no going back. Captain, I hope to see the Wunder take flight again. Anything else Vice-Commander?"

"No Sir," he wasn't looking at the screen.

"And you Captain?" Kaji asked.

"Only one question for the Vice-Commander," she replied. It was apparent to the other two that she had regained her composure. "Do you believe that you will be able to do a good job in taking care of Shinji?" Burke turned around and stared at her before he spoke.

"A better job, I'd say," was his answer. Misato sat there for a moment, the other two unable to read her face.

"I'm signing out. Thank you," she said at a rapid rate before the screen shut down. The two men sat at the table in silence. Burke shifted his eyes to Kaji, who was looking right at him and there was no sign on his face suggesting he was in a good mood.

"You know," he said after a brief pause, "you could have been on better terms with her if you just shot her with your gun." Burke laid his head low on the table.

"I know sir, I took it too far," he said. "It was just that she was pushing it on the matter, and with what else I've been hearing, I let my temper got the best of me."

"What do you mean what else?" Kaji asked. "What do you know?"

"They wouldn't admit this to you willingly," Burke began as he sat himself back up. "But I have been approached by several senior staff members as well as some city officials asking that we put a DSS system on him. After some prodding, they admitted that it was the Captain who brought it up with them."

"I see," Kaji flung the stylus he was holding onto the table in not too gentle a manner.

"I'll admit she means well," Burke continued, "but putting one on him now wouldn't do anyone any good, least of all Shinji. And it would throw our plans for him out the window." He slumped down on the chair again. "I knew I should have gone out there as soon as we knew he was recovered."

"You wouldn't have made it before the Mark 09's attack," Kaji replied. "You know that."

"I suppose," Burke said. "I will apologize to her, but please let it wait until there's situation where cooler heads must prevail." Kaji nodded his head in affirmation as he picked up a tablet and began to bring up information.

"So he hasn't left the apartment on his own?" he asked.

"Nope, but it isn't as if he's uncomfortable. He has plenty of food, and he can keep himself entertained." Kaji raised an eyebrow at him.

"He's a kid, not a dog," he said. "He needs to get out once in a while."

"And he has," Burke sat right back up. "I've taken him places. A couple of days ago, I took him out to the park on the fourth ring."

"Again, I can't help noticing the dog imagery," Kaji said. "I think he needs a job."

"A job? What kind of job?" Burke asked. Kaji handed him the tablet and Burke read the info, his brow furrowing and his mouth scrunching up into a twisted shape. He put the down the tablet and straightened out his face.

"Sir, I've been in combat, you know that I'm not a coward. But there is no way in hell that I would do something like this, let alone the kid." Kaji just snorted at his answer.

"Maybe you are a coward after all," he said. "He needs something to do. Something that gets him out in the world. Having the tutor is not enough." Burke looked at the tablet again to reread the job description.

"Do you believe he can do this?" he asked.

"If he could fight Angels, I'm sure he can do this," Kaji answered.

"I'd still rather take on Unit 07 and the Devastator system again," Burke stated as he stood up. "I'll ask him, but I'm not sure he'll go for it."

"I think you'll be able to convince him," Kaji said.

"You seem to have a lot of confidence in Shinji and I," Burke said. Do you ever think you could lose that bet?"

"You can never win, if you don't take a gamble," was Kaji's reply. Burke shook his head as he left the meeting room.

It was the smell of cooking vegetables that woke Shinji from his nap. He sat up on the couch and discovered Burke working in front of the stove. He got himself up and walked into the kitchen.

"I see you're awake," Burke said as he kept his attention on the cooking. "It should be done in a little bit, but I can't guarantee it'll taste good."

"Burke, you're back," Shinji said.

"Yeah, I was able to get away a little early, so I decided to make dinner," he replied. "By the way, is the food I've been getting okay with you? I've only started to get grocery deliveries. It used to be be I just grabbed all of my meals from the cafeteria at work."

"It's fine," Shinji said. He was amazed when he first found out that there was food. Bread, fruit and vegetables, even meat in limited quantities. With his experience at Nerv HQ, he thought that these items were no longer around. "I'll set the table," Shinji went to the cupboards and began to set the plates, glasses and flatware for Burke (chopsticks for himself) needed. When everything was ready, Burke brought out the meal, a crude stir fry, and placed some on each plate. Shinji had to admit when he took a bite that although the dish was amateurish, it did taste good. One more thing that was different between him and Misato. They ate in silence for several minutes before Burke spoke.

"So, how have you been spending your days," he asked. "I dusted a bit today."

"Oh, um, well…Doing a little of this and that," Shinji replied looking down at his food.

"Okay," Burke stated. "I was asking because I would think that you would get really bored being cooped up in here all day."

"It's not a problem," Shinji replied. "I mean, it's not like there's anything I can do out there."

"On that point, I have to disagree," Burke said stepping away from the table and returning within seconds with his tablet in hand, which he handed to Shinji. "Take a look at this." Shinji began to read the job description, his mouth starting to quiver and his eyes widen at the details that were before him."

"I…I…can't…no." He managed to stammer out. "I've never done anything like this."

"True, but it could be a good thing for you to try," Burke took a long drink of water before he spoke further. "I mean, everybody when they start something for the first time doesn't perform it like an expert."

"But still," Shinji continued. "I don't know what would happen if—"

"You're not going to be alone," Burke cut in. "There are going to be adults there who know what they are doing."

"Well…" Shinji sighed in resignation. "If you have no one else, then…" Burke saw this line coming. He read the report from the psychiatrists and knew what he wanted to say to counter it, though it might be risk to do it this way as well.

"Oh sure, there are other people who could do it. More qualified too." Shinji looked up at him in surprise.

"Then why do you want me to—" Burke held up his hand so he could speak.

"The reason we want you to take this on is because we believe it might you a good opportunity to learn about the world." Shinji paused for a moment before he spoke. He remembered hearing those words somewhere. They sounded familiar to him.

"Really?" he asked Burke, who nodded yes.

"Let's make a deal," he said. "Give it a week, around three hours a day or so. If by the end of that week, you still don't think it's right for you, you don't have to do it anymore. No questions asked, no hard feelings. What do you say?" Shinji mulled the offer for a few moments before he spoke.

"Only one week?" he asked.

"Only one," Burke answered. Shinji became silent for another minute thinking over the pros and cons of the whole deal. He concluded that there was no reason not to trust him.

"I'll do it," he told him.

"Good to hear that," Burke said. "I'll get in touch with the people in charge, and you can start in a couple of days. Sound good?

"Sure," Shinji replied. Burke finished his meal and started to pick up his dishes "I'll put these in the sink and then I'll take a look at this thing I've heard about called tee-vee."

Shinji gave a slight chuckle at his remark before he went back to his food. Despite Burke's assurances, he still felt anxious at whole prospect. He was unsure if it was going to be all right, if he could do a good job, or even if he would be welcomed there at all. He finished his plate, washed up the dishes, and seeing that the program Burke was watching didn't interest him at all, went to bed.

"I should congratulate you," Kaji said to Burke. "I knew that you could convince him."

"I only bought a week," Burke replied, "and I did promise that afterwords, he could stop if he wanted to."

"Fair enough," Kaji said getting in his chair. "We couldn't ask for anything more, but I have a feeling he'll stick with it."

"You seem to know the moves before they're made," Burke observed as he looked through some paperwork. "You're reminding me of someone else I heard about that treated people as pawns." Kaji leaned back in his chair and smiled, amused.

"I'm not that manipulative," he replied. "I'm just a firm believer in the goodness of human beings."

"So, you are placing a bet on him?" Burke countered.

"If you want to put it that way," Kaji answered. "Is Shinji there now?"

"I brought him there before I came to main meeting," Burke said. "He has been there for about an hour or so. Our reserve pilots, on the other hand, you can't have a good idea where they are at. The show up for duties; sync tests, briefings, the usual. But the moment they're just on standby, the two go off to who knows where. I've seen them walking around in the corridors."

"They're probably just glad to get off the Wunder," Kaji said.

"That may be the case," Burke said. "The few times I've passed them, Shikinami kept giving me he stink eye."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but I think I know the reason why," Burke continued. "I'm afraid that I was more than a little cold to her when Shinji was first brought in."

"Ah, so that might explain the roaming," Kaji said more to himself than to his subordinate.

"Sir?"

"Nothing. It's nothing," Kaji waved it off. "So, what next for you?"

"A meeting with the tactical division," Burke answered. "When that's over, it should be time to pick up Shinji."

There have been many things that Shinji has found looking at him that have both surprised and unnerved him. The first time he saw Unit 01, every time he saw one of the Angels, and even when he had those people staring at him on the Wunder. However, what was staring at him this time was not only unnerving him, but was unnerving him despite the knowledge that it couldn't harm him in any way. The four-year-old girl that was looking at him was called away by one of the adults at they daycare center. He looked around at the controlled chaos of the play area.

"Shinji, could you help me here for a second?" One of the caretakers called out to him. Shinji went over and helped her grabbed a large toy house off a high shelf and gave to a few seven year old girls followed by assisting another caretaker settle a dispute between two boys though he didn't participate too much in the settling, nor could he figure out what the dispute was over in the first place.

All those three hours, Shinji helped the adults with various tasks that needed doing. The children who were there eyed the big kid with a mixture of curiosity, fascination, and to some of them, a little fear; not that the feeling was based on anything Shinji did or said, but I was based on the usual apprehension when a child meets someone for the first time. Shinji, in turn, got a sense of those feelings, adding to his general uneasiness. When he was done for the day, Burke came to pick him up. When they were out of the daycare center, Shinji hunched himself over, letting the stress out of him.

"Tough day?" Burke asked him. Shinji nodded yes, not saying anything else.

"The first day of anything is often the toughest," he added. "As the days go on, you find that it does get, well if not easier, at least you find yourself able to handle it better."

"If you say so," Shinji said not looking up.

"Okay then, We'll head back to the apartment real quick so you could get freshened up, and then we're heading out to eat."

"We're going out to eat?" Shinji now looked up at him. "Why?"

"To celebrate your first day," Burke replied. "It's not a place I go to too often. Ninety percent of the time, I just grab something from the cafeteria at work, but it's still a good place to eat."

"Okay." Burke noticed that Shinji has developed a small smile on his face. That action surprised Burke. He never expected that Shinji would smile, at least not to soon since he arrived. This brought a smile to his own face as the two left the building for their meal.

The next day, Shinji was back with the kids. It was still difficult to to do some things and he still felt overwhelmed. However, he also got an idea what Burke was talking about. It did seem to him that the tasks were a little easier, even if it was by just a little. During the middle of his shift, he found that there wasn't a thing that had to be done at that moment. He looked around saw the children playing and the caretakers at one corner of the room chatting amongst themselves. He then felt something grab and tug one his arms. He looked down and discovered the same little girl from yesterday tugging at him.

"Um, is something wrong?" he asked her, unsure of what was going to happen. The girl started to pull him behind her as she led him to one part of the room.

"Come on," she told him.

"Where are you taking me?" he asked her. He was surprised that for a young girl, she had a strong grip. The girl led Shinji to corner where there was a small table and a set of chair. Several bowls, glasses, plates and other items were on the table.

"Sit," the girl said as she sat down herself. Shinji sat down in the kid-sized chair, his knees reaching his chest. The girl began to set out some plastic plates and tea cups. She also brought out a kettle. She poured into Shinji's cup, but nothing came out of the kettle. She repeated the process with her own cup with the same result. She then brought the cup to her lips and pretended to drink.

"Yummy," she said when she set the cup the down. "Drink it," she told Shinji. Understanding what was going on at last, he brought his own cup and appeared to gulping it as well. He set the cup down.

"Is it good?" she asked.

"Delicious," Shinji replied playing along.

"Would you like some more?" she then asked.

"Yes please," he answered. The girl, who Shinji learned while they were playing was named Akane, 'poured' another cup for him and he drank the imaginary liquid. He found himself enjoying playing with her and was getting more and more into the tea party. A hauntingly familiar voice interrupted their playtime.

"So this is where you were." Shinji turned and found himself facing Asuka along with Mari, who waved to him.

"Asuka…" was the only thing he could get out of his mouth. She eyed him in turn taking stock in the situation she found Shinji in.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked him. "I saw you through the window and had to do a double take."

"I help the adults here," he said.

"I don't see how," she countered looking around. "You probably just get in their way." She picked up a crocodile puppet that a kid dropped on the floor and looked at it. "I mean, do you even know what you're doing?"

"No, not really," Shinji answered,, "but I'm learning." He paused for a few seconds watching her put her hand in the puppet and take it off again before he spoke again. "You know, you're lucky."

"Lucky?" she asked.

"I mean, you know what you're doing," Shinji continued as he was looking at one of cups from the tea set. "You at least have some purpose in your life. I envy you." Asuka put the puppet down and walked towards him. When he looked up, she was standing right over him, her face was hidden by her hair.

"You envy me?" she asked, her voice stern. "You envy someone who's been in combat more times than I can count, who has been on missions where the odds of me dying were greater than success, who wonders almost every day if this is the last day I'll live? Do you envy that?" Her voice had gotten loud enough so that every kid ans adult in the room stopped what they were doing and turned towards the two. Even Mari began to fidget under the sudden tenseness that came into the room.

"You're more naive than I thought," she sneered. "Pathetic." Asuka felt some movement below her and looked down to find Akane staring up at her. She bent down to meet the girl at eye level.

"Hey little girl, could you play over there for a little while? We're talking important stuff here," she said to her in a fake nice voice. Akane answered by giving her the raspberry at point blank range.

"Ack!" Asuka yelled as she wiped the spit from her face. Mari covered her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laughter. Shinji just sat there stupefied at the whole matter.

"Shinji, you idiot!" she declared. This is all your fault!"

"What do you mean my fault?" he replied. "I didn't do anything."

"You probably told her to do it," she countered. "You two are perfect for each other. You're both brats." Whatever else she was going to say was interrupted by Akane, who stood up and walked to her.

"You're mean!" she yelled while at the same time kicking Asuka in the shin. Asuka screamed as she held her shin and yelled several new words the children learned that neither the caretakers nor the children's parents appreciated too well. Mari could not hold it any longer and she burst out laughing. Within minutes, Asuka, with Mari's help, limped her way out of the center, but not before glaring at Shinji as she left. He glanced towards Akane, who beamed a huge smile as if asking for validation. He gave a weak smile in reply, which caused Akane to smile even louder before running off to meet some other kids to tell them her side of the story. Shinji remained in his tiny chair, replaying the recent events wondering what just happened.

A couple of days later, the daycare group was gathered on the roof of the Wille facility. The kids were running around enjoying the change of scenery and sense of freedom while the caretakers ran themselves ragged to keep everybody under control. Shinji, who was holding Akane, stared out at the city below. He believed that he would never get tired of the sight. He didn't notice Kaji slipping in right next to him.

"Wonderful view," Kaji remarked. At first startled by his voice, Shinji turned to face him.

"It really is Commander," Shinji replied.

"Oh don't be so formal," Kaji said. "You can still call me Kaji, like the old days."

"Oh, okay," Shinji replied. "We should thank you for letting us up here."

"Don't mention it," he stated. It's not everyday that people can see the Wunder launch."

"When do we see it?" Akane asked, wiggling around in Shinji's arms.

"In a little while," Shinji cooed. He glanced at Kaji.

"According to the schedule, she should launch in about five minutes or so," he answered. "Burke is managing it in the Command Center, so he would have a better idea, but he hasn't told me of any changes so far."

"Okay." Shinji said. "I see that there's more than just us waiting for the launch." The two took notice the people looking through windows as well as on top of roofs and on balconies.

"Word gets around," Kaji stated. "The ship and crew are rather popular. There's even a few familiar faces checking out the scene." Shinji looked where he was pointing and saw Asuka and Mari on an upper roof.

"I heard there was an incident with those two a couple of days ago, at the daycare center." He added.

"Yeah, they're not welcome there anymore," Shinji replied.

"I'll make it a point to tell them," Kaji said with a smirk. Their attention was then drawn to a noise that came from the outer wall. The two, as well as everyone else, saw the Wunder rise into the air. The kids began to shout with glee with the exception of a few that began to cry in fear. The Wunder hovered for a few seconds before it turned towards the city. The ship flew over the tower giving everyone a closeup view of its underbelly. It then crossed the other side of the city and sped off.

"Well, there she goes," Kaji remarked.

"It's gone," Akane said.

"Don't worry," Shinji replied. "We get to go to the park next week."

"Next week?" Kaji asked. Shinji nodded yes not understanding the implication of his question.

"All right then," he said with a grin. "Time to get back to work." The other caretakers were gathering the kids to take them back. Shinji turned back in the direction of the Wunder, now appearing as a faint dot in the sky. He felt a twinge of regret once again, think that perhaps he should be there. Akane pulled on his hand signaling to go. He gave her a smile and proceeded with the others. He may have wished he was on board, but for the moment, he felt this was the place he had to be.


	3. Chapter 3

"Nervous?" Burke asked Shinji. The boy was pacing up and down the hallway, his arms folded. He nodded his head.

"I don't know what to say," he added, the speed of his voice increasing with each sentence. "I mean, she's not Ayanami. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. I should go."

"Oh no, no." Burke, thinking that he might run off, grabbed his shoulders to stop him. "I think this is something you have to do."

"I suppose," Shinji replied. "But I still don't know what to talk to her about."

"The weather, what she had for breakfast, I mean there are many things you can talk about. The key is to talk to her like she's just a regular girl." Burke released his hold on him slowly, prepared to stop him again should it be needed.

"I don't even know what to call her," Shinji said. He stayed where he was, but Burke noticed that his legs were shaking.

"Call her what she wants to be called," he answered in a matter of fact fashion. "Look, it doesn't have to be a long conversation. I'm thinking three to five minutes to start with. I would think you can keep talking for that long." A nurse approached them saying that they were ready on their end.

"Okay Shinji. Follow the nurse here, and she'll take you to her." Shinji nodded his understanding and proceeded to follow her down several corridors stopping just long enough to run her security card at certain doors. At last, they approached a door guarded by one soldier with a bored look on his face. He nodded to the two in acknowledgment of their presence as the nurse turned to Shinji.

"This is her room. Knock on the door when you're done."

"Thank you." Shinji took a deep breath and opened the door. What he found on the other side was a cross between a hospital room and a student's dorm room. The bed was standard for hospitals, but instead of the usual white and beige colored sheets and blankets, there was a large pink bedspread on it. Barring one security camera, the walls were bare. In one corner, there was a wooden desk with a lamp on top. In the desk chair was the Ayanami type sketching something on a sheet of paper, not seeing that Shinji was there. She was wearing hospital clothes, but unlike the hospital gown that Shinji wore on the Wunder, the gown she wore allowed for the wearer to keep some dignity. It consisted of two pieces, a button-down long sleeved shirt and matching pants. Shinji watched her sketch, he couldn't see what she was drawing without looking over her shoulder. He then coughed to get her attention. She turned towards the cough, her eyes widening a little at the sight of him.

"Ikari," she said. He waved to her in greeting.

"How have you been?" he asked her.

"No problems," she replied. A silence settled in the room, something which Shinji didn't want to happen. His mind raced trying to find something else to talk to her about her about. He knew that Burke said it only had to be a few minutes, but he felt that it had to be more than an answer to a question. There had to be something, anything to discuss with her.

"Um…What are you drawing?" he asked.

"Several things," She answered. She lifted the paper to show him. They were simple shapes; circles, squares, triangles. Upon closer examination, Shinji found the shapes to be more complex. In one case, a triangle was composed of smaller triangles. A square had another square drawn within it followed by another producing a series that seemed to stretch into infinity. Some of the drawings appeared to be three dimensional, which produced spheres and cylinders, even so far as to have one shapes turn into another.

"These are great," Shinji told her. He had to admit that he couldn't draw that well. "Did you always draw?"

"No," she replied. "I only began after I arrived here."

"So, why did you start?" he asked.

"I don't know. One day, I took a pencil and paper and just started."

"Oh…" The silence settled in once again and he searched his mind for another topic.

"Wouldn't you like to wear something other than hospital clothes?" A few seconds of silence elapsed before she answered.

"Why would I? They're comfortable."

"I don't know, variety?" he said. "I mean, haven't you ever worn normal clothes before? I've only seen you wear either a plug suit or-" He stopped himself when he realized he was about to say when he walked in on her while she was nude at Nerv HQ. She appeared to think his question and was silent for a couple of minutes.

"I'm not entirely sure," she soon replied. "I've never worn anything else, but I've seen clothes where I slept. That is something I don't understand." His mind flashed an image of the rows of decapitated Ayanami heads. He shook his head to get that image out of his mind and decided to switch subjects.

"There's one other thing I'd like to know," he began. "What should I call you? I know you're not the Ayanami I know, but I have no idea of what you want to go by." Shinji couldn't tell what was going through her head as her face never betrayed her thought process.

"I'm not sure," she said at last. "This is something that I would need to think about further."

"Oh. All right then." Shinji couldn't think of anything else to talk about, but was glad that more than five minutes had passed. "I'm going to leave now. Okay?" He stopped and turned back towards her. He did have one more question for her.

"Is it all right if I come again some time?' Her answer came in less than a second.

"Yes, it would be appreciated."

"Great," Shinji beamed. "And if you need to reach me, you can. I'll see you again." He knocked on the door and was let out. As he was escorted again by the nurse through the corridors, Shinji was mulling over whether or not to get her some art supplies, and if so, what to get. He narrowed it down to either a large sketchpad or a set of colored pencils. He considered for a moment trying to find her a how-to-draw book, but decided against it as he realized that it was a good idea to ask her if she would like one the next time he visited. That's what he should have done when he was at Nerv. He should have asked her instead of just dumping books on her. Before he could beat himself up some more, they returned to where they started and the nurse left him.

Shinji then found that Burke was nowhere to be found. Wondering where he had gone, Shinji began to wander in an effort to locate him. As he was approaching a junction between two corridors, he happened to see someone walk past. It was Ritsuko, who did not see him as he she went by. Shinji stood there frozen for a minute before he began to follow her, not running but walking rapidly. He didn't know why, but he wanted to talk to her, about what he didn't know. It was if he was going on instinct. After five minutes of walking down multiple corridors, he caught a glimpse of her walking down a corridor. He only saw the hem of her lab coat, but it was her. He pursued and came in full sight of her, but she swiped a key card for a secure door and went through, closing it before he could get one word out. He stood in front of the door for a couple of minutes debating with himself whether he should knock on the door or not before someone called out to him.

"What are you doing?" Shinji turned around to find himself face to face with a huge man, ebony-skinned and no hair on his head. Though, the man had spoken to him in Japanese, Shinji wondered if he knew anymore than what he spoke. The tutor was just getting him started in the more advance aspects of English, so he couldn't talk to him too well.

"Um…well, you see, I'm-" he began in English before the man cut him off.

"I'm well aware of who you are." To Shinji, his Japanese appeared to be perfect. "I'm asking what are you doing here?"

"Well, I couldn't find Mr. Burke, so-" he returned to Japanese, but he was cut off again, not by anything the man said, but by him pulling out his phone and dialing.

"It's me," he said in English, of which Shinji could only make out a few words. "Are you looking for Shinji Ikari?…Well, he's in front of the security door leading to Section L22…Yes I said L22…He said he was looking for you…you're coming? Good." He hung up the phone.

"He's coming here," he said to Shinji in Japanese.

"Thank you, um… what's your name?" Shinji asked.

"Dr. Samuel Hood. Chief Supervisor, Evangelion Maintenance Division," he replied. "I'm supposed to be assisting Dr. Akagi on her repairs for Units 02 and 08. I'm not going to hear the end of it from her if I'm late again." The two heard footsteps coming towards them. They sounded to Shinji as if they were coming fast before then slowing down to a normal pace. Burke then strolled around the corner looking as if that was the way he walked the way here.

"There you are," he said to Shinji before speaking with Hood in English, who nodded at what he said.

"All right Shinji," he returned to Japanese. "Let's get going."

"Sure," Shinji replied before turning to Hood and bowing. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Uh, Sure thing kiddo," Hood replied, taken aback by the formality. The two began to walk down the corridor. Shinji turned his head back to see Hood swipe his card and go through the same door as Ritsuko.

"I'm sorry," he said as he turned back around. "I didn't mean any trouble."

"It's all right," Burke replied. "It's my fault for not waiting for you, so you're in no trouble. Just next time, when you're in a similar situation, head towards the reception area."

"Right," Shinji answered. "By the way, it seemed like you came here in a hurry. Why is that?"

"Well…" Burke began uncomfortably. "I wasn't sure if anyone besides Sam knew about it."

"What do you mean?" Shinji asked. A dour look appeared on Burke's face as he stopped and turned towards the boy.

"Do you like living with me and being able to go wherever you want?" Burke asked and Shinji nodding yes. "We had to make several assurances to various higher ups that you would follow certain rules. One of those rules is that you can't be in or near that section as it leads to the Eva cages.

"You mean where Unit 02 and the other one is here?" he asked. Burke could tell he was sounding worried at this revelation.

"Not just those two, but two others. As we're so close to Nerv HQ, it's best for us to have them in case of a sudden attack. It is also why the two pilots you know are here as well despite the Wunder being on deployment. Your ability as an Impact Trigger is why that prohibition is in place.

"I'm sorry," Shinji stated. Burke's face smiled again as the two continued their walk.

"No harm, no foul. That's how we're going to look at it. And you don't need to worry about Sam, he'll keep quiet to the right people. So buck up, but remember that unlike the Commander and myself, there are people in the upper ranks that do not care to be lenient. We can't give them any excuses, Understand?" Shinji nodded, but kept a worried look on his face.

"Hey, I said to buck up," Burke said. "Now we need to stop at my office for a moment, then it'll be time for you to go to the daycare center. Got it?"

"Got it," Shinji replied. He was relieved that there were people who had his back, but there was also a nagging feeling that what peace he had found could be taken away again so easily.


	4. Chapter 4

The morning found Shinji standing in front of a mirror in his room trying to remember the exact way Burke taught him on how to tie a necktie.

"Does it go this way or is it like this?" Shinji mumbled to himself as he moved the wide and narrow ends across each other an attempt to remember the exact starting position of each end. If he remembered that, the rest would be easy. The problem was that Burke taught him two different knots, the four in hand and the Kelvin. Shinji thought it was a mistake on Burke's part as he realized that he had mixed the two knots together leading to a real mess. He wondered why the school required blazers as part of their uniform. He heard a knock at the door followed by Burke poking his head through.

"Hey, you're going to be late," he stated. "Not good for your first day of school.

"Sorry," Shinji replied. "I'm still having trouble…" During those months, he had learned enough English from his tutor that he could speak simple sentences to Burke reaching the point where the two could carry on a conversation so that a question could be asked in English and answered in Japanese with no misunderstanding between them. Burke came in and helped to reset and tie his tie, which Shinji recognized during the process as the four in hand, committing what he saw to memory. Once the tie was done, Burke stood back to look upon his work.

"Looks all right," he remarked. "Are you nervous?"

"Uh, a little," he answered as he put his mild blue blazer on and clasped the top button.

"Do you have your lunch?" Burke asked.

"Yes, and I made one for you too," Shinji replied.

"Great," Burke rubbed his hands together. "Oh, I should also tell you before I forget that I'm also going to be late coming home again."

"I see." He could still remember one night a couple of weeks ago hearing Burke yell 'What do you mean it's disappeared?' into his phone. Overhearing Burke's side of the conversation, Shinji surmised they were talking about Nerv HQ. After that, Burke began to spend more time at work. Shinji wanted to ask what happened, but he felt that he no longer had any right to inquire.

"After school, are you gong to be seeing her?" He also continued to visit the Ayanami type during that time. Though the conversations did not have too many complexities to them, compared to their first meaning, they had grown in both length and scope, the conversations ranging from what sketch she was working on at the moment to what she had for lunch to even stories Shinji had of the Ayanami she knew.

"Not today," Shinji said. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Then the daycare center?"

"Yes, but I should have enough time to come back here to change my clothes.

"Did you take your meds?"

"Yes," Burke seemed to ask him that question almost everyday since he began taking them, and Shinji was starting to get annoyed over it.

"And the most important part of this interrogation, do you remember you cover story."

"Yeah." Burke had assured him that no one outside of Wille knew who he really was. But as a 'safety precaution', in Burke's own words, he was given a cover story that Shinji had to learn over the last month, even his name was changed. He was still Shinji Ikari, but 錨 was used for his last name instead of 碇. It was still pronounced Ikari and still meant anchor, it just used different kanji. His first name was unchanged as Burke stated that it would be difficult for him to remember it on top of his cover story.

"I think you're going to be fine," Burke stated. "Now get going. You'll miss your train." Shinji went on his way and just made the train. He sat down on the seat to catch his breath. He noticed in the car a couple of students wearing the same uniform among the people going to work and even people his age going to other schools.

Shinji stopped himself at that observation. His age? What exactly was his age? He didn't know whether to think of himself as close to fifteen or close to thirty. He wondered if he could relate to his classmates. As one example, he hadn't paid too much attention to any musical fads outside of some songs he heard on the TV or Burke's car radio, so he didn't know what was considered good or not. He reasoned that he could play it safe and say classical if anyone asked, at least until he could get a better idea of modern music. He wished he was able to talk to Burke about all of this, but he felt that he couldn't do it. How would he be able to understand what it felt like to be…out of his time? Those were the best words that Shinji could use to explain his feelings. Besides, it was much busier at Wille headquarters these days, so he wouldn't have the time.

The train stopped with Shinji and the two students with him getting off and walking towards the Japanese School on the Fourth Ring. He reported to the school office where he got his class assignment, and was introduced to his class in the customary manner, Shinji almost writing his real name on the blackboard, but caught himself in time. His new classmates were naturally curious about their new member, taking in every detail about him as he stood up in front of the classroom and paying attention to every word he he said in his introduction. He took his seat, and the lessons for the day began. At lunchtime, some of his classmates came to his desk.

"You know, we don't get a lot of transfer students," a girl told him.

"Oh really," Shinji replied making an uncomfortable laugh.

"Yeah. The most we see is from one part of the city to another. I never heard in your introduction where you were from," a guys said. Shinji brought his cover story to mind and answered just as he practiced.

"Mexico City. I've lived there for a large part of my life."

"You have to tell us about life there sometime," one of the boys said. Shinji nodded while he was panicking on the inside at the same time. He didn't notice another of the male students sliding into the desk next to his.

"So, how do you like it here at this school?" the stranger asked.

"Um, it's nice…uh…" Shinji replied, not knowing how to continue.

"Oh, Sorry about that. It's Miyashima, Miyashima Kyo. Say, what Ring do you live on?"

"The Second," Shinji answered, as he was tapping one of his feet on the floor at such a rapid pace, he wondered if they heard it. Miyashima whistled at his answer.

"That's a high class part of the city," he added. If I had to make a guess, I'd say your folks are either with the government or they're with Wille."

"Not my parents," Shinji answered him. "My guardian, he's with Wille."

"I knew it," Miyashima answered. "I always have an inkling of things of these Ikari." He then looked up at the ceiling and said his name again. "Ikari…. You know, this might sound funny or weird, but your name sounds reminiscent of Gendo Ikari." Shinji's entire body became tense at that name.

"Huh?" was all he could say while attempting to remain calm.

"You know, the man who set off Third Impact" Miyashima replied. Shinji hesitated to speak, wondering what he could say next.

"Don't be an idiot," a girl who was the class representative chimed in. "You saw how he wrote his name. It isn't as if they were related or anything like that."

"Fine, fine," Miyashima threw up his hands. "You win." Shinji was relieved that they dropped the subject, and any further discussion that could be had was quashed when the bell rang and classes resumed.

When school was done for the day, Shinji was wandering around the school building seeing where everything was. The class rep promised him a grand tour once school was out, but some sudden student council business forced her to cancel with the promise that it would happen tomorrow. As he was wandering around, he heard piano music coming from down the hallway. Following it, he came upon the music room where he discovered a girl playing on one of the pianos. She was not in Shinji's class, but she looked about his age. Her hair was short, and from a distance could be mistaken for a boy if it wasn't for the fact she was wearing a skirt. The girl didn't take notice of Shinji, who remained in the doorway, as her focus was on her sheet music. Even with the time he spent with Kaworu, he couldn't consider himself a proper judge of her playing, but he knew that it was beautiful.

He continued to listen to her playing for a few minutes until he was surprised by someone tapping his shoulder. He turned around to find Miyashima smiling at him. He pulled Shinji away before he could get a word out.

"Out of your league," he told Shinji in his pleasant manner.

"What is?"

"Not what. Who," Miyashima clarified. "I'm talking about her." He shot his thumb out towards the music room.

"I was just listening to her play," Shinji said. "I don't even know her name."

"And there's no point in finding out." Leading him by the shoulder, Miyashima took Shinji and began to stroll down the hallway together.

"Believe me, you don't have a chance, so it's better not to even know that." His answer was followed by a group of three girls running past them.

"Miyoko-Chan!" one of them cried out as the three ran into the music room. Shinji turned to his companion.

"I…guess it's possible you could find out in other ways," Miyashima said, "but still, it's not worth the trouble. There is ample evidence all over the school as to her unwillingness to go out with any guy." Shinji mused over his words for a few moments.

"So, does that mean you tried as well?" He asked. Miyashima was silent for several seconds before answering.

"That's neither here or there, but you see my point, do you?" Shinji nodded.

"Good. So now that school's out, you got any plans for the rest of the day?"

"I'm just going to go home. "I've had a busy day," Shinji replied.

"Oh..Okay then," Miyashima said. "See you tomorrow."

"Uh, yeah. See you tomorrow," Shinji gave a quick wave to him before he went off. He took the train back and met Burke back at the apartment.

"Hey, I just came back to pick up something, so I'll be heading back to work. How was your first day?" Burke asked him. Shinji flopped down on the couch and looked up towards the ceiling.

"Tell me about life in Mexico City," he said after a few moments of silence.


	5. Chapter 5

It was on a Sunday morning that Shinji was lying on the couch vegging out in front of the TV, even though there wasn't anything on that interested him. Burke was working that day, and he said before he left that it would be very late when he returned. As he was staring at the TV, he heard the doorbell ring three or four times in rapid succession. Shinji lurched himself up and trudged over to the door. When he opened it he found a girl staring back at him. She had soft brown hair tied into two pigtails. She also wore glasses with cherry red frames. She seemed familiar to him.

"Can I help you?" Shinji asked her. The girl only smiled in reply. Another girl poked her head out from behind the first one. This girl was familiar to him, and Shinji gave a slight smile at the sight of her. "Suzuhara," he exclaimed.

"It's been a while," Sakura answered as she wormed her way around the first girl. "This is why I should have been at the door," she remarked to her.

"Sorry," she replied, "but I just wanted to see the look on puppy boy's face when he saw me." Now Shinji knew he had been called something like that before, he was certain of it, but no name was coming to mind.

"I…I should know you," he said to her. "I mean, I saw you with Asuka at the daycare center, but I feel we've met before."

"I can't believe you forgot about me," the girl replied, the false indignation apparent in her voice. "You would think that the way we met on the roof should have cemented me in your memory." Those words triggered latent memories in him and he put everything together.

"You're the girl that parachuted onto the school roof," he exclaimed. The girl gave a wide grin.

"You got it," she said.

"I think you were also talking on the phone, and you said your name," Shinji stated. "Maki, isn't it?"

"Mari," she replied, crestfallen. "Makinami Mari." She ended with a formal bow, which Shinji reciprocated.

"Now that we have been properly introduced, are you going to let us in like a good host, or leave us out here in the hallway?"

"Oh. Sorry." Shinji jumped out of the way as the two ladies came in, Sakura thanking him for letting them in. Once they were in the apartment, Mari began looking around the living room as Shinji turned to Sakura.

"So, what did you come here for Suzuhara?" he asked.

"Sakura is fine," she replied. "We just wanted to see how you were doing. It's been several months since…we last met, and we wanted to see how you are."

"I'm good. I'm doing real good," Shinji stated. Sakura sensed a little wavering in his voice.

"That's…that's good to hear," she replied.

"Um…I really should apologize to you," he said to her.

"Apologize for what?"

"Back then, you told me not to get in an Eva, and I didn't listen. I thought all of you were lying." She put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.

"It's all right," she told him. "Looking back at it, I don't think we did a good job in the way we were trying to tell you everything. I believe we owe you an apology."

"Awesome music collection!" The two turned towards Mari who was on her hands and knees taking a closer look at Burke's CD collection. "Very eclectic," she remarked as she pulled one out. "I never took someone like the Vice-Commander to be fan of Queen. He always seemed to me to be a rather taciturn person."

"He's pretty easygoing," Shinji replied, "but he's serious when he needs to be." He paused for a moment before speaking again. "Where is Asuka?"

"She's not going to be joining us." Mari was still going through Burke's collection. "Do you know what she was doing when I left our apartment? She was laying on the couch in her underwear watching TV. I mean, what kind of person would do something like that on a day as nice as this?"

"Uh…I really couldn't know." Shinji coughed a little in nervousness. Mari then stood straight up, catching the other two off guard.

"Now I want to see the Vice-Commander's room," she declared with a mischievous grin on her face. Before her statement could sink in with either Shinji or Sakura, she bolted over to where she thought his room was, the other two scrambling to catch up to her. She made it to both the bathroom and Shinji's room, which Mari told them she'll get to next, before she reached Burke's room.

"You shouldn't be in here," Sakura protested. "What if he finds out?"

"It's not like I'm going to leave any evidence." She turned to Shinji. "Come on, have you entered his room when he wasn't there?"

"Well sure, but that was when I first moved in—"

"See, precedent has already been set." She looked at the pictures on the wall before she got on her stomach to look under his bed.

"He's got to have some porn," she muttered. Shinji could only shake his head in dumbfounded while Sakura planted her face into her hand. The spectacle was interrupted by the doorbell ringing again.

"Oh what now?" Shinji asked as he went off to answer to door. When he opened the door he found Miyashima and one other person from school, Shinji thought his name was Renji, standing in the doorway.

"Hey there Ikari," Miyashima greeted him.

"What are you guys doing here?" Shinji asked, more than a little nervous.

"We just want to see how you were doing," Miyashima replied. "I mean, you just leave right after school's done."

"Well, I do volunteer at the daycare center at the Wille base," Shinji replied, shifting his body by leaning between one foot and the other trying to dispel some of his nervous energy.

"I didn't know that," Miyashima replied. "Do you work there everyday?"

"No. Not everyday," Shinji answered.

"And do you need to be there today?"

"Um, no. But you see—"

"So you do have time to hang out. Mind if we come in?"

"Sure, but only for a few minutes. You see…" Shinji kept trying to explain his situation, but kept getting interrupted by Miyashima. Shinji concluded that he was out of the frying pan and straight into hell. At the same time, Mari and Sakura were peeking over a corner watching the exchange between the boys.

"Shinji looks really uncomfortable," Sakura whispered to Mari. "Like he doesn't want them here."

"I see that," Mari concurred, her face looking stern, but that sternness lasted only seconds as a mischievous smile came upon her face. She jaunted into Burke's room an opened his closet.

"What are you doing ?" Sakura struggled to keep her voice in check. Mari had taken out a dress shirt.

"Going to help him out," she answered as she removed her pigtails and loosened her hair.

"So what do you say Ikari?" Miyashima asked him. Shinji didn't know what do. He was afraid of what might happen if the guys ran into Mari & Sakura. What questions they might ask. But even more than that, he was uncomfortable around them in general, and wished they would just leave. And though he hated to admit it, he wanted the two girls to leave as well. He just wanted to be alone.

"I'm busy today, that's all," Shinji replied.

"Busy? Doing what exactly?" Miyashima asked, his voice beginning to show irritation. Shinji was about to answer when a voice called to him from across the room.

"Oh Shinji…" It was Mari's voice calling to him in a singsong fashion. He sighed as he turned his head to the voice, hoping that the encounter will go well.

"Guys, this is Mamamama…" his voice just stopped when he got a good look at her. She was leaning against the wall, her hair undone and flowing around her shoulders. She was wearing one of Burke's dress shirts, a thin one at that so that while she was covered, not too much imagination was needed to fill in the details. The shirttails barely covered below her waist, to the point where all that was required was a change of a person's angle to be able to see everything.

"Who are your friends?" She walked towards the three boys, the two who were guests transfixed on her bare and smooth legs.

"Um, well," Shinji began.

"Miyashima!" the owner of that name blurted out. "And this is um…" He turned to his companion. "Tell her your name."

"I don't know it," he stated as he kept staring at her.

"I see," Mari replied. "I hate to break it to you boys, but I'm afraid he can't join you today. I can only speak for myself, but I'm rather tired and I would think he would be too." She then made a deliberate yawn stretching out her arms and sticking out her chest. "I mean, Shinji did keep me up all night." Mari then came up and wrapped up her arms around Shinji and rested her chin on his right shoulder "I hope you understand." Shinji was turning beet red since she did not only have her arms around him, he could feel her breasts against his back. Miyashima and Renji stood there in stunned silence for several seconds.

"I think we should go," Miyashima said at last.

"Yeah, maybe we should," Renji replied as if he was in a daze. The two made their way to the door, their eyes looked on Mari, who lifted one of her arms to wave at them.

"Bye, bye," She said to them as they were closing the door. A few seconds after it was shut, Mari let Shinji go.

"Well, that went pretty good," she declared.

"What the hell was that?" Shinji turned to her. "Why are you dressed like that? Why did you say those things to them?"

"I tried to get Suzuhara to do it too," She motioned over to Sakura, who had come out in the living room. You would have become a legend with the boys at your school."

"And I said no!" By reflex, Sakura covered her chest with her arms. Shinji's face grew a darker shade of red. He turned back to Mari in an attempt to shake off that lovely, but unwanted image that popped into his mind.

"You're not listening. Why did you do this?" he asked. Her smiled lessened a little.

"Suzuhara and I thought that those boys were giving you trouble. This was our way to get them to leave."

"That was your way," Sakura corrected.

"I did want them to leave," Shinji said. "But what's going to happen when I go when I go to school tomorrow? What are they going to say?"

"Don't worry about tomorrow," Mari answered. "Let's see what we're going to do today?" Shinji cocked his head a little trying to process those last words of hers.

"What do you mean, what we're going to do today?" he asked.

"Those two had a good idea," Mari replied. "You should go out and have some fun." Sakura nodded her head in agreement.

"No, I don't think it's a good idea," Shinji stated. He thought that he was done with this argument.

"Why not?" Mari asked. "You have to give an answer, and I don't think there's another half-naked woman around here to bail you out."

"It's not just them," Shinji replied sticking his thumb out towards the door. "I mean, I don't hate them or anything. It's that they make me uncomfortable, and not just them. Everyone does." He took a breath before he finished. "Even you two."

"Why?" Sakura asked. "What did we do? Is there anything we can do about it?"

"No, it's not that." Shinji went over and sat down in the couch. "It's nothing about either of you in particular, it's just that…"

"What is it?" Mari asked.

"It's…" he couldn't hold it in anymore. "It's not my world."

"Not your world?" Sakura whispered the question more to herself than to Shinji.

"The whole week since I first started school, I'm reminded of that fact almost every moment when we're not in class. 'Hey Ikari, don't you think this actress I haven't heard of is hot?' Or another day, 'Hey Ikari, what do you think about this song from this pop group that you don't know of, and even if I have heard the song, I wouldn't know it was from them?' And do you know what the worst of it is? When they use words that I haven't heard about or can't figure out in the context of where or when they said it. I am sick of it, just so sick of it."

"Have you tried to understand they were talking about?" Mari asked.

"How? Where do I start without making myself look like a complete idiot?" he asked them. Neither girl gave him an answer.

"I want to hang out with your brother," he said to Sakura. "I want to hang out with Aida. But I can't can I?" Tears were forming in his eyes as well as in Sakura's who nodded no. Mari stood there, no smile on her face. She then knelt in front of him.

"I know we can't replace them in your memory, but you could make new memories with us. What do you say?"

"Please Shinji?" Sakura took a hold of his hand. Shinji looked down at her mind clasped around his. He could feel the warmth emerging from her hand. He had forgotten that other people could be so warm. As he looked up towards Sakura, he could see the tears in her eyes.

"Okay," he said. "I'll go." A smile came upon Sakura's face.

"Really?" she asked as she wiped away her tears. Shinji nodded.

"Great," Mari said. Sakura then looked at her with a stern look.

"So are you going to put your clothes back on?" She asked her. "With that getup and the way you're kneeling, it almost look like you're going to…" She didn't finish her sentence, but turned red at the implication she was making.

"Well look at you," Mari replied. "And people say I have a dirty mind." Shinji looked between the two women not understanding what they are talking about.

"We'll leave in about an hour," she told them as she stood up. "That'll give everyone time to dry their eyes. As for me, I'm going to take a quick shower." She headed towards the bathroom. "Shinji, do have a scrub brush that I can reach my back with or are you going to come in and help me?"

"You just don't give up, do you?" Sakura asked shaking her head.

"Nope," she said as she closed the bathroom door. Shinji got up and after telling Sakura he was going to his bedroom to change. He went in and closed the door. He flopped on his bed and looked up at the ceiling reflecting on what happened and wondering if things could get any worse for him.

An hour later, the three made their way to the Third Ring as Mari declared that was where all the fun was. When they arrived, Shinji did find it to be a lively place. The first thing they did was go shopping at the various stores. Shinji was bored out of his skull watching the girls look at clothes. The only part that was worse was when Mari was trying to drag him inside a lingerie store, with both he and Sakura refusing to go in. Next, the three attended a concert put on an an amateur pop group that was being held in the plaza. Shinji didn't care much for the act, though the same couldn't be said for the people around him. Some people were really getting into it, even the girls he was with. After the concert was over, the three went off to a small cafe for a bite. During the meal, Mari was leading the conversation and Sakura was listening attentively. Shinji was listening as well, but he was putting more attention towards moving the food around his plate.

"So the princess wanted the new Unit painted red, but because it's mostly from Unit 08, I said it should be pink. So in the end as it's a dual entry system, we compromised and it's going to be painted half and half. It's going to look stupid, but at least the two of us can live with it." Sakura nodded in reply while Shinji didn't look up from his plate, which Mari noticed.

"Did my story bore you Puppy Boy?" she asked him. He looked up at her with a stern look on his face.

"Why do you call me that name?" he replied. Her eyes widened a little at the tone of his voice.

"I thought it was cute," she answered him. "Don't you agree?"

"No," Shinji answered. "I'm not a dog and I don't want to be a joke." Mari leaned back in her chair taking stock in what he said.

"I realize that, and I didn't mean you are a joke, but think about it like this. What exactly is a puppy?"

"I…I don't know what you mean?" Shinji said. "A baby dog, right?"

"True, true," she said. "But what do we know about puppies?" Shinji thought about it for a minute or so before he answered.

"They're cute," he lowered his head a little in a futile attempt to hid his embarrassment.

"Right," she stated. "They also have a lot of energy, they get underfoot, desperate for attention, whine when they don't get what they want, and they throw up on the carpet when after they chew on the house plants when you thought it would be okay to take your eyes off him for five minutes." That last part was mumbled as he she lowered her head. When she lifted it up again, she found both Shinji and Sakura staring at her.

"Anyway," she said, "the final thing is that they do grow up and that they're always loyal." She looked straight at Shinji. "I won't call you that name anymore, but I didn't mean anything bad, okay?"

"Uh, sure," Shinji was surprised at her words. Mari then stood up.

"Okay, now if everyone is done with their meals, I'll pay the bill and we'll get dessert somewhere else." They left the cafe, and walked for a while before they stopped at an ice cream stand where Mari bought cones for each of them, before they resumed their journey.

"It's pretty good," Mari remarked. "The artificial cream they use isn't that bad. Of course it doesn't compare to the real stuff."

"You've had real ice cream?" asked an impressed Sakura.

"Sure did," Mari replied. "But that was a long time ago. You could say another life even."

"So where are we going now?" Shinji asked.

"The First Ring," Mari replied. "There's some place I want to take you that's real cool," Shinji looked as Sakura, who just shrugged her shoulders at him. They took a train to the First Ring and Mari led them to Wille headquarters.

"What are we doing here?" Shinji asked.

"You'll see," she replied. The three came to a large satellite dish that was in the middle of the complex. Mari began to the climb the ladder at its base.

"Come on," she told the other two. With some reluctance, both Shinji and Sakura climbed after her. When she reached the dish proper, Mari opened the door and crawled out, they saw that Mari had taken off her shoes and was putting on a pair of roller blades.

"What are you doing?" Shinji asked her.

"What does it look like?" she replied. I'm doing some roller blading."

"But why here?" Shinji asked. "Wouldn't you be better off going to a skate park or something? I think the city has one." She didn't answer, but instead propelled herself around the dish, using the antenna to help her turn around. Soon, she was able to gain enough speed so that she could reach the edge of the dish above them. Mari grabbed that edge of the dish and using the inertia, lifted herself to spin around and land on the dish, where she soon cruised to a stop. Both Shinji and Sakura were wide-eyed at what they witnessed.

"That was amazing," Sakura exclaimed. Mari gave a mock curtsy in appreciation.

"Well what do you think?" She asked Shinji.

"Sakura's right, it is amazing," he said. "How did you learn to do something like that?"

"Lot's of practice," she replied as she glided to the bottom edge of the dish and sat down so that her legs dangled over the edge. She singled to Shinji to sit by patting the space next to her. Sakura signaled that she was going to give them some space before she climbed down the ladder. Shinji sat down beside her, his legs sticking over as well. After he got himself comfortable, Mari began to speak.

"Not too long after you were absorbed into Unit 01, there was a point where the UN confined most Nerv personnel, including the Princess and I, on board an aircraft carrier. We weren't prisoners, but we couldn't leave the ship either. The worst part of it was that there was nothing to do. You couldn't believe how boring it was. One day, the two of us happened to find a couple pairs of roller blades. We figured they must have belonged to some sailors or something. We learned quickly, but soon got tired of skating from one end of the ship to the other, so we used the ship's satellite dish to try some tricks. I can't tell you how many times the two of us wiped out attempting them. We must have spent six months skating from sunup to sundown."

"How long was everybody kept on board?" Shinji asked.

"I'd say nine months give or take a week," She replied. "Anyway, the point is that practice is the key."

"I wish I could learn something like that," Shinji said.

"What's stopping you?" she asked him. "If you want to learn something, you go ahead and learn."

"You think so?" Shinji asked. Mari nodded.

"I'd say for anything that you want to do, that your passionate about, you should pursue it," she added. Shinji then smirked.

"I never took you for being a philosopher," he said.

"Well, I'm more than a set of tits and a fine ass," she remarked. Shinji chuckled before his face resumed his usual somber look.

"The only thing I know how to do is pilot an Eva, but I can't do that anymore." Mari rubbed Shinji shoulder in comfort.

"Well, I would compare your situation to that of an athlete that got in a car crash and is now in a wheelchair," she said.

"Yeah, but the athlete knew what caused the accident," Shinji retorted. "I still don't know exactly what happened after I got absorbed into Unit 01."

"What? You weren't told what happened?" her surprise was genuine.

"Mr. Burke only gave me a vague idea, something about taking the Eva's power for myself. He didn't give me a lot of details, saying I wasn't ready yet."

"Killing with kindness," she mumbled to herself in English.

"What was that about kindness?" Shinji asked.

"Oh, nothing, nothing," she returned to Japanese waving it off. Shinji was unable to make any further inquiry as Mari's cell phone went off.

"It's the princess," she remarked as she looked at the screen before putting it to her ear. "Hey there," Mari said into the phone. "Yes I drank it…It didn't have your name on it…Asuka is a pretty common name. How could I know it was yours?" She had a malicious grin on her face as she said those words. "Okay, okay. I'll get you a new one on my way back…I'm seeing a friend…No, it's not him" She winked at Shinji while she put a finger to her lips to keep him quiet. "Okay, I'll see you soon." She hung up the phone and let out a breath.

"You take one bottle of juice…" she muttered to herself.

"You and Asuka seem to get along," Shinji said.

"The Princess and I have our moments," Mari replied. "We've been partners for years. It could even be argued that we're friends. But when you are partners with someone for a long, people get the funniest ideas sometimes." She chuckled to herself before continuing. "I mean, there are people who actually think the two of us are…well…'together.'"

"What do you mean by 'together?'" Shinji asked. Mari chuckled again, much louder than before and it was a few seconds before she steadied herself.

"How do I explain this? When two women love each other very much, or possibly when they get very, very drunk…" Shinji, thinking through what she said, turned red as he realized the implications of what she was saying. Seeing Shinji's reaction, she burst into laughter again for five minutes before she calmed down.

"I mean, she wouldn't know what to do with a woman if one came up and gave her a swift kick in the ass." She said. Shinji's face remained red, though it was now due to embarrassment.

"I didn't realize that was a problem" he said.

"Yeah, but it's nothing for you to worry about." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm always looking for a good laugh, and that always delivers. Besides, this probably gives you some interesting mental images for you to use some lonely night." Shinji blushed even more at her assertion. How many times today, he wondered, has his face been this red? Is it going to become permanent?

"But still, you two get along pretty well," he said when his face resumed its normal color.

"Well, we've been fighting for all these years," Mari stated. After all that, one would think that some bond would be formed."

"I see," Shinji said which he followed up by bringing his head to his knees and staring out into space. Mari noticed the change in his demeanor.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Well, it's that I sometimes get the feeling that I should have been with you guys instead of where I am now, fighting on the Wunder." Mari stared at him for a few moments before she asked him a question.

"Do you think it would have been better if you were with us?" He shrugged his shoulders in reply.

"No one would hate me," he added looking down at his knees, "and I still would be friends with Asuka and Misato. Part of me wishes I was with you guys all these years." He didn't see Mari scrunch her face when he mentioned being hated.

"Based on what happened, it was better for you not to be there," she said. "Look, those have formed some strong and unique bonds, bonds that you can't relate to, as you haven't had those experiences."

"Then it's hopeless," Shinji declared. Mari answered to that by taking him by the shoulders and shoving him onto the floor of the dish, the two face to face with each other.

"The hell it is! Just because you don't have the same experiences, doesn't mean you can't have bonds with them." Her face softened and while she still held him down, she lessened her force on his shoulders. "I mean, I'd like to think we're getting along pretty well, don't you agree?"

"I...I guess so," he replied. Mari let go of his shoulders.

"I know so," she stated. "And you know, you can forge bonds with people you don't know, and I think you should too." She smiled at him, not her all knowing or trolling smile, but a real genuine smile.

"I…I'll try," Shinji said. Mari then pulled him up and gave him a hug, the last thing Shinji expected. By this time Sakura had come back. She signaled to Mari asking if it was okay to come back. Mari, over Shinji's shoulder, nodded yes. She let go of him for a few seconds before she put her arm over his shoulder.

"All right, we've had a long day, so let's get you back home." She said. When the three made it back to Burke's place. Mari looked around until she found several sheets of paper, on one of them she began writing.

"This is the address of where the Princess and I are living. I'm expecting you to come visit us sometime," she said as she handed him the paper. "Don't worry, I'll keep the princess at bay."

"Sure," Shinji replied. Sakura took one of the sheets and began to write as well.

"I'm not there too often as I usually have duties on board the Wunder whether she's in port or not. But if you catch me at the right time, I'd be happy to welcome you."

"Thanks," Shinji said as he took the paper from her. Mari then began to write on another sheet.

"And this," she finished writing on a third sheet," is he Captain's. No one is expecting you to visit her or anything, I just thought you'd like to have it." She handed him the paper."

"Oh," he said as he took the paper. "Okay."

"Well, I guess we should get going." Mari stated as she turned to leave, but before she did, she darted in and kissed Shinji at the corner of his mouth. Once again he blushed beet red at her actions.

"See you around sweetie," She told him before she went out the door.

"Bye," Sakura, who had a fair shade of red herself, said as she followed Mari out. Shinji stood there, feeling the heat coming from his cheek and wondering if the blush is now permanent. He went back to the couch and sat down, trying to process the events of the day.

A few days later, Burke was in his office when he received a video call from Mari.

"Makinami," he said to her. "To what do I owe the pleasure."

"Just wanted to say hi," he replied. "Did Shinji tell you that Suzuhara and I visited him on Sunday?"

"Sure did," Burke answered her. "He won't say it, but he really appreciated you two coming to see him, and I appreciate it as well. I haven't been able to get a lot of free time, and I didn't want him hanging around in the apartment all day."

"No problem," Mari said. "Did he happen to get my present?" She was referring to the pair of roller blades, helmet and pads that came with it.

"It arrived yesterday," Burke said. "I'm sure if you listen carefully, you could hear repeated thudding from where my apartment is. I hope he hasn't broken anything." She chuckled for a few moments before her tone changed and as she spoke again.

"That day, we were able to have a long talk, and he mentioned that he still hasn't been told about his role in Third Impact, that you only gave him a vague idea. Why haven't you told him after all these months?" Burke bit down on his lip.

"He's not ready," was his reply.

"He's got to know sometime, and he has to be told," she stated.

"You've seen how he is," Burke leaned towards the screen. "You've seen all the good that has happened to him since he arrived. Tell him too soon, and you'll see all of that disappear. Do you want that to happen?"

"But if he isn't told, he'll never truly move forward," she countered. "It is the final obstacle he has to face, so it has to happen sooner or later." Burke was about to yell at her, but stopped himself.

"I just don't want to destroy what peace he has achieved. I'm not trying to keep him in the dark on purpose. Besides, if you're so concerned, why didn't you tell him?"

"He needs to hear it from someone he trusts and whom he has no baggage with. Personally, I think you're the best guy for the job." A light smile came across his face.

"Thank you for the vote of confidence," he said. "I'll take your points under consideration, and I'll discuss this with the Commander, see what he thinks."

"Very well," but I'll be keeping an eye on your progress. Later." She closed out with a wink before the screen went blank. Burke leaned back in his chair and ran his hands over his face. He realized that she had a point, but she wasn't the one that would have to deal with the consequences. He and the Commander would be the ones, figuring not only how this would affect the Arbiter Plan, but how it would affect Shinji himself. He could only hope that Makinami would wait before she would take matters into her own hands.


	6. Chapter 6

"So it's agreed that the upcoming stargazing night will be held on the roof of Ikari's apartment building," The President of the Astronomy Club said. The other members, Shinji included among them, nodded their assent.

"Too bad that we couldn't get on the roof of Wille headquarters," One of the club members lamented. "It's the tallest building in the city. We wouldn't have to worry about light pollution."

"I tried talking to my guardian about it," Shinji stated, "But he said it couldn't be done."

"At they very least, we got Ikari's apartment in compensation," the President said. "It's still better than the roof of the school."

"So unless someone has anything else," The membership was silent. "I think that's it for today," she said as she put on her coat. "I'll see you all tomorrow." The other members rose from their chairs and in groups of two and three, left the clubroom. Shinji was grabbing his bag when the President tapped his shoulder.

"I really should thank you," she told him.

"It's the least I could do," Shinji replied. "I mean I'm a new member, so I thought it was the best way to contribute.

"No problem," she replied "Anyway…do you want to come with us to a cafe that just opened up?" the President, with a couple of other members right next to her, asked him.

"I already have plans," he replied. "Perhaps another day."

"Sure," she answered, then gave him a wave and smile before walking away. Shinji went the opposite direction, where he passed by Miyoko heading off towards the music room. She shifted her eyes towards him, but said nothing as they passed each other. Shinji didn't know what to make of her. She seemed level headed, and perhaps a bit standoffish, but what was to him the most curious thing about her was that there was something that was…familiar, yet he just couldn't put his finger on it. He made his way down a flight of steps pondering over it and met Miyashima at the shoe lockers.

Hey Ikari, do you want to head over to he arcade?" he asked when he saw him. "I still want a rematch."

"It'll have to be another time," Shinji replied "I got things to do."

"Oh, so you're going to be with your girlfriend?" Miyashima asked with a mischievous grin on his face. Shinji didn't say anything, but he simply glared at him in reply. How many times did he tell him Mari wasn't his girlfriend? Miyashima shrank away from the glare and raised his hands in surrender.

"I'm joking, joking, okay." The glare was lifted. "How about this weekend then?"

"If nothing comes up for me, sure."

"Great. See you around," Miyashima said as he left. Shinji put on his street shoes and walked to the station where he got on the train heading to the fifth ring. The Wunder had come in again, the first time in three months, and he wasn't sure how long she was going to be in port. He did promise Mari and Sakura that he would come and visit them, and he was going to keep that promise today.

He walked until he found a park bench where he sat down and put on a pair of roller blades, knee and elbow pads, and a helmet on his head. After putting his shoes in his bag, he began to glide down the walkway. He only had gotten a handle on forward movement and stopping as well as turning corners. He couldn't do any tricks like Mari, but he was proud of what he was able to do and couldn't wait to show Mari. He was even hoping that she could give him a few pointers. He went at a leisurely pace as he was on his way, and soon was in sight of the apartment complex. Burke had told him once that most of the Wunder crew live at the same complex in case there had to be a rapid deployment. The building was not as grand as the complex that he was living in, but it appeared to be nice, at least from the outside. He came up to the building, and after exchanging his blades for his shoes, went inside.

As he walked the hallway and began to go up the stairs, he checked the addresses that both Mari and Sakura gave to him. If he read them right, all three lived on the 10th floor, so that would save him some time. He made his way to the floor and walked at a slow pace looking at each door number until he came to the door to Asuka and Mari's apartment, their nameplate right on the doorway. He pressed the screen below it to ring the bell, but a message appeared on the screen instead stating that neither of them were in and to please leave a message.

He ignored that request and went to Sakura's apartment, which produced the same result. With a sigh, he began to make his way to the stairwell, but hadn't taken three steps when an idea entered his mind. Taking out of his pocket the third sheet, he made his way up three more floors, and once again made a careful look at each door until he came upon the right one. He took a long look at the nameplate, which stated Katsuragi, and brought his finger to press on the doorbell, but he stopped, his finger hovering right above the button. After a minute of hovering, he took his finger away, and he turned around to make his way back, figuring if he was lucky maybe he'll see one of them as they passed each other, though he doubted that would happen. He took just a single step on his way, when he heard a voice behind him.

"Shinji?" He turned around to find Ritsuko in the hallway. She was wearing a business suit, dark blue in color and had a satchel swung over her shoulder. The two stared at each other for a few more seconds before she spoke.

"I see you're attending school now. I hope you're doing well."

"I'm fine, thank you," he replied. Ritsuko then looked over towards the door that he standing in front of.

"I'm sorry, but the Captain is on board the Wunder at this time," she said. "We're in port for just a couple of days and then we have to head out again, so there's no guarantee she'll be able to stop at her place or for how long. It's same for the pilots. Even I only had enough time to grab a change of clothes for a meeting." She walked past him.

"Take care of yourself Shinji," She said over her shoulder. "I hope we can meet again in more favorable conditions." She continued to walk as Shinji stared at where she originally stood. He remembered he time when he saw her at Wille headquarters and followed her, though it led to nothing. Now she was here, and that desire was still there. Was he going to let it slip by now?

"Wait!" He yelled at he turned towards her. Ritsuko stopped and looked back towards him.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Tell me," Shinji said.

"Tell you what?" Her voice expressed annoyance.

"What happened," Shinji replied. "What happened all those years ago. How did the world get to be this way? I need to know." Ritsuko's eyes widened for a couple of seconds before returning to their normal size.

"I don't understand," she said. "I thought you were briefed on these matters when you arrived in the city."

"I was only told some vague stuff, not what actually happened." She asked.

"Didn't your school or the tutor you had tell you anything?"

"Just the stuff everyone knows," Shinji replied. "Not any of the details that you or Misato or Asuka know."

"Well after all these months living here, I'm sure you could now ask the Commander or Vice-Commander."

"There's no point, they'll just say I'm not ready," Shinji answered. "I even tried to find out on my own, but I couldn't get access to any of the systems… And now, I'm stuck." Ritsuko began to pace in a circle around the width of the hallway, looking at a tablet she took out of her satchel. After a few minutes, she stopped and turned to Shinji.

"24 hours," she said. "I need 24 hours to get all the materials that are required." A small smile came upon Shinji's face."

"Really? That's great, but I thought you said that you didn't—"

"I'll make time," She interrupted him. "When are you done with school tomorrow?"

"At four," Shinji answered. "Usually, I just go to my club and—"

"Skip it," she interrupted him again. "I should have everything ready by the time you're done with school." She tapped on her pad and began tapping. "If you would come here again after school, everything will be explained then. Is that all right with you?"

"Uh, sure," Shinji replied.

"All right," she said. "Just one favor though. Could you not tell anyone about this?" Shinji cocked his head a little.

"Why?" he asked.

"It's just that if the Commander or Vice-Commander were to find out they would try to convince you not to go on with it or try to stop it in some other way. And then, how are you able to find out? How much longer do you have to wait?" Shinji tried to sort through the pros and cons her request coming to the conclusion that she did have a valid point.

"O…Okay," he said.

"Excellent," she said, I'll walk out of the building with you." They said nothing to each other on the way out except when they were at the main door when she wished him a good day until tomorrow. Shinji watched her walk away before putting on his blades to return home. He couldn't tell if he was excited or nervous about finding out. It was sometimes difficult for him to discern between the two emotions.

He had only gotten around two and a half hours of sleep during the night and at school the next day, he felt like falling asleep in class, but he couldn't even take a nap in homeroom, the roller coaster of emotions keeping him off balance leading to him miss his name being called on in class a couple of times. After school, he told a member of the astronomy club that he wouldn't be in today and raced off to Headquarters. He was met at the gate by Ritsuko and one other person.

"Glad to see you're here," she said to him. "Shinji, you might not remember him, but this is Lt. Commander Hyuga. He was on the bridge staff at Nerv HQ on the old days and is now third in command on the Wunder."

"How do you do," Shinji greeted him. He did not speak, but acknowledged his greeting with a slight nod.

"Now that everyone's been introduced, shall we head on to my apartment?" Ritsuko said. As they approached the complex door, the three were met by a man coming out. He was rather large man, bald with dark skin and a very unusual beard in that it while it covered his cheeks and chin, the space between his upper lip and his nose was bare. The man stopped and looked at the group.

"Afternoon Vice-Captain, Commander," he said.

"Afternoon, Lieutenant Kohji," Ritsuko replied. "How are things aboard the ship?"

"Heading over to her now," Kohji stated. "Looks like we'll be able make our launch time tonight."

"Good to hear," she said. "I just have some matters that need to be cleared up before I board. I'll see you on the bridge tonight." She turned to Shinji. "Let's go."

"Very good Ma'am," Kohji replied as they walked past him and into the complex. Kohji looked back towards them before he began walking again.

"Are you sure?" Burke stood right beside Kaji in his office as Kohji spoke to them through a video monitor.

"Absolutely. I only saw him once when he first came aboard the Wunder, but I don't forget a face."

"But that's not unusual," Burke said. "He told me that he went there yesterday to pay a visit to the pilots, but they were out. Maybe he was trying to see if they're in today."

"But that's the thing sir," Kohji remarked. "The pilots are aboard for duty and she would know that. And from our brief conversation, it implied to me that she was expecting him." Burke opened his mouth to reply, but closed it without saying anything.

"Thanks for the information," Kaji stated.

"What are friends for?" Kohji declared before signing off.

"What the hell is he doing there?" Burke muttered to himself. He had crossed his arms and began to pace around the office.

"Was he behaving oddly in any way when he came home last night?" Kaji asked.

"I…I'm not sure," Burke replied. "He seemed to have had a good day as far as I can tell. But the thing that gives me pause was that he appeared to be evasive with me when I asked if he met anyone there." He walked over and picked his coffee cup on Kaji's desk. "I chalked it up to him meeting a cute girl or something and he didn't want to be embarrassed." He began to take a sip.

"Maybe Ritsuko was the girl," Kaji mused. It took an extreme force of will for Burke not to spit out the coffee he was drinking. He swallowed and turned to Kaji.

"I don't know what's more disturbing, that or the fact you can make a bad joke like that."

"Just trying to lighten the mood," Kaji replied.

"In any event, it appears that she wanted to see him for some reason," Burke stated. "But if so, what would the reason be?" He began to pace again for about ten seconds when he stopped and pounded his fist into his palm.

"Of course," he muttered before coming back to the desk and began to type on the computer.

"What are you doing?" Kaji asked.

"The base is responsible for the security of that apartment complex right? So that means we have access to its security feed."

"But those feeds are only for the public areas such as the hallways," Kaji countered. "If he went into an apartment, we lose him."

"I know that, but it could give us a better ide-Bingo!" Burke activated the office's main screen. It showed the area outside the main door of the apartment, the events of the day sped up. They soon saw Shinji arrive.

"There he is," Burke remarked. They watched him go up the stairwell and go to the 10th floor at lightening speed followed by him going up to the 13th. They watched him go to Misato's door and, at that speed, followed by Ritsuko a second later.

"Stop" Kaji ordered. The image stopped at the two facing each other. "Play it at normal speed. Can we get sound?"

"We should," Burke replied as he tapped at the keys. The video played normally. They saw everything. They heard everything. When the two walked off screen, Burke shot straight up and went for the phone.

"I need a security team assembled ASAP!" he yelled into it. "Have it ready to deploy to the Wunder apartments." When Burke hung up, he began to head out of the office.

"You going over there?" Kaji asked.

"After a brief detour to the armory, yes," Burke replied. "Shinji is my responsibility. This is something I have to take care of myself."

"I'll contact Katsuragi," Kaji said. "She might be able to help you."

"I appreciate it," Burke said as he left the office. Kaji stood up and walked over to the window looking out towards where the apartments were.

"Ritz, don't you realize you're ruining everything?" he muttered.


	7. Chapter 7

A glass of water was placed on a coffee table in front of Shinji who was sitting on a couch. He looked up to see that was Hyuga who gave it to him. Shinji thanked him and Hyuga nodded in reply. He watched the man as he walked away to assist Ritsuko at the terminal. Shinji was confused by the fact that he didn't seem hostile to him, but he hadn't spoken a single word to Shinji since they met. He didn't know what to make of it.

After taking a sip of his water, Shinji made a closer look of the apartment he was in. The first thing he noticed was the cats. Not real cats, but cats that were in everyday objects: Pictures, pillows, hand towels, even a set of salt and pepper shakers on the kitchen table, a white cat for the salt and a black cat for the pepper. Otherwise, he found the apartment a rather simple affair. He concluded that it had to be that way for someone who could be gone for months at a time. Shinji moved the chair he was sitting in short jerky motions trying to expel the nervous energy he had, but to it was to no avail.

"Okay Shinji, we are ready," Ritsuko announced. Shinji brought his chair to a stop, a combination of relief and dread engulfing him. He knew he could stop, that he could walk out of the apartment, but the greater part of him knew it was worse not to know. Ritsuko took a breath before she spoke.

"Before I begin, I should point out two things. The first is that we were attempting to give you a variation of this briefing when you first came out of Unit 01. However, we were unexpectedly interrupted at that time, to say the least. The second is that this briefing will be neither comprehensive nor in a strict chronological order. While some general events will be mentioned, our focus here today will be on how your actions became a catalyst for the events in the intervening years. Do you understand?"

"I do," Shinji replied.

"Good," she said "Now, I want to begin by going back to the battle with the 10th angel. The lights were dimmed and a large monitor in front of him lighted up projecting a video of Unit 01 in battle. He watched as the Eva dragged the angel along the launch track. The screen switched to the Geofront, and he saw Unit 01 twisting the creature's arm before it just stopped.

"At this point, Unit 01 used up all of its battery power and shut down," Ritsuko stated. The screen showed the angel impaling it and casting it aside, the Eva spraying LCL. The video then stopped at that point. "Do you remember what happened next?" Shinji took a breath before answering her.

"I was hurt for the most part, I even spit out some blood. But I also felt very angry. I thought I'd failed in getting Ayanami. I wanted to make it give her back. I was going to make the angel give her back." Shinji realized that he had clenched his fists as he was talking, and he unclenched them, taking notice of the indentations made when he dug his fingernails into his palms. "Then the Eva started up again."

"Interesting…" she said. "This is what we saw on the outside." The video began to play again and Shinji saw Unit 01 reactivate, changing its color and growing an arm made of light. He saw it deflect the angel's counterattack and incapacitate the beast. He then saw Unit 01 stretch out its intact hand at the angel's core.

"Were you still aware of what was going on?" Ritsuko had stopped the video once again.

"I didn't see in the entry plug all of this," he replied. "Just a bunch of streaming colors, like a rainbow was all around you. And I don't know if I'm explaining this in a way you could understand, but there was something like an instinct or sixth sense telling me where the Angel was. And that same instinct was telling me to reach to Ayanami, that she was only a few meters away. Even when I heard her say that she couldn't be rescued, I was… compelled to save her."

"You heard her?" Hyuga asked looking surprised.

"I did," Shinji said. "I began to crawl towards where she was, and this is going to sound weird, but it felt to me that I was crawling farther than the length of the entry plug itself. I finally reached her and pulled her up, and holding her was the last thing I remember before waking up on the Wunder."

"I see," was all that Ritsuko said as she restarted the video. Shinji saw a massive vortex of radiating black and red bands form followed by the angel explode in a mass of blood, like all angels he'd fought before. But this time, the blood reconstituted itself into an image of Rei, almost as large as Unit 01 itself. He saw the image of Rei merge into the Eva and the Eva then beginning to glow, sprouting streams of colors, some of these streams forming into wings. Shinji always thought that Unit 01 was scary, but seeing like this, it looked completely hellish to him.

"Was this when it happened?" Shinji stood up. "Was this when the world was destroyed?"

"While this is Near Third Impact, it is not," Ritsuko replied. "You will see why any second now. Blink and you'll miss it." Shinji watched the screen and within seconds saw Unit 01 get skewered. He thought that the spear that impaled it look similar to the ones that were down in Central Dogma in the remnants of Lilith. He saw the the hole in the sky disappear and the Eva return to its normal colors, the glowing arm disappearing into thin air. The Eva floated back to the ground, the tip of the spear setting into the soil, leaving Unit 01 propped up in the air in an unnatural position.

"Who threw that spear?" Shinji asked, though the question wasn't directed at the other two in the room. The question was answered for him as he saw the Mark 6 descend from the sky. It was there too, in Central Dogma he realized.

"Eva Mark 6," he muttered. Ritsuko overheard him and replied.

"Correct. There is a lot to say about that Unit, but we would be getting ahead of ourselves. For the moment, it is sufficient to say," the screen now turned to a still picture of several people at one of the Eva cages where the Mark 6 was secured. The people were looking up at he pilot who had just left the entry plug. Ritsuko began to magnify the picture, focusing on the pilot. When the image of the pilot was made clear, Shinji's eyes widened at his identity as Ritsuko hammered in the point. "That the pilot was Kawrou Nagisa." Shinji stared out at the image for several seconds taking in all the implications of that revelation.

"Why?" he whispered, but still loud enough for the other two to hear it. "Why didn't he tell me?" If either Ritsuko or Hyuga were going to offer an answer, neither of them got the opportunity as the doorbell rang. Ritsuko walked over to the door and touched the pad next to it.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"Housekeeping," replied a masculine voice making an attempt to sound like a woman by raising the pitch of his voice, and convincing no one.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know-" She was interrupted by the door opening on her and seeing Burke standing in the entryway.

"Don't tell me you forgot that we're responsible for the security of this building?" Burke stated. "We can access people's doors in an emergency as well as feeds in the security cameras. You know, you can find some of the most interesting conversations that take place in the hallways." Ritsuko bit her lip before she spoke.

"Come on in, Vice Commander," her voice and actions stated to him it was the last thing she wanted to do. Burke walked in and looked upon the scene.

"Well, it seems I missed the cartoon, but made it in time for the main show," he declared as he took a grand look at the three who were there.

"Mind if I ask why are you doing this?" he asked. Hyuga looked at Ritsuko, while she in turn, looked at Burke with a steel glare.

"Fixing a mistake that you and the base's commander made," she told him. "We're attempting to rectify that."

"There are reasons for that," Burke said before sitting down next to Shinji. "Why did you ask her for this?"

"I needed to know. You did tell me some things. But not what was important."

"Because you weren't ready for what this all entails," Burke countered. "Besides, if you had some specific questions, you could have asked me. It wasn't as if I was going to bite your head off over it."

"I know," Shinji replied. "It's just that you were always so busy, I thought it would be a problem to bother you."

"That's not a bother," Burke stated. He planted his elbow on the table and laid his head on his hand taking a several deep breaths. He then lifted his head up and placed a hand on Shinji's shoulder.

"Look, I'm sorry that I haven't been around, and also that my actions made you feel that way. Do you understand?" Shinji nodded in reply. "Okay. Now, I have to ask. Do you want to continue with this?" Shinji looked at him.

"I do," he replied. Burke sighed.

"Let's hope that's the right decision," he said. "But if you ever want to stop at any point, just say so and we will." He shifted his eyes towards Ritsuko. "I'll make it happen."

"O…Okay," Shinji replied, a little unnerved at the change in Burke's tone of voice, even though it was not directed at him.

"If the two of you are done here, can you please shut the door?" Ritsuko asked, "or are you going to invite that tactical team in as well?" Both Shinji and Burke looked towards the doorway and saw the shadows of the team against the hallway wall.

"One moment please," Burke said as he got up and went to the doorway. He stuck his head out looking at the ten man team that was lined up against the wall.

"Standby," he whispered to the lead man who nodded his reply. Burke came back in and closed the door.

"That's taken care of," he said to Ritsuko as he sat back down. "You may proceed Dr. Akagi."

"Thank you," Ritsuko replied. "Now, to say at that point that we were in a bad situation would have been a massive understatement. Tokyo 3 was ruined, the top of the Geofront torn open, Central Dogma exposed, and of our Eva Units, one was destroyed, one heavily damaged, and one that could not be safely activated. You were absorbed into Unit 01, Asuka was incapacitated and Rei was considered dead. And the only functioning Eva was not under our command. A pretty bad situation indeed, but it was not all doom and gloom. It was fortunate for us that the MAGI was transferable and that we could work from a reserve command center. We also heard that the UN approved funding for not only the construction of more Eva Units, but for fully automated systems as well." Ritsuko displayed schematics for the various iterations of the Mark 4. "At that point, we could only hope that we could hold out until those Evas and their pilots would arrive. Are there any questions?"

"What exactly happened to me in Unit 01?" Shinji asked.

"Our theory at the time was that you reached a high level of synchronization well in excess of 100%. By our estimate, it was between three and four hundred percent. Due to that high rate, you lost you ego boundaries and ended up floating around in the entry plug in a disembodied state. The problem was that we weren't sure if you were still in the entry plug or if you were absorbed into Unit 01's control system. Even if we had little information to go on, we attempted an operation to salvage you out of there."

"And it didn't work," Shinji said.

"Correct," was her answer. "We don't know if it was because you were in the control system or if the control system refused to let you go. You do know about Unit 01's control system?" Shinji nodded yes.

"I know my mother is in there," he added. "Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki told me while I was at Nerv."

"Okay, that saves me some time," Ritsuko was tapping on her computer for a few seconds before she spoke again. "It could even be theorized that you, on a subconscious level, didn't want to come out. Tell me the truth, if you had the choice, with all that you had experienced, whether to leave Unit 01, would you?" Shinji hung his head low. He didn't want to look at any of them in the face.

"No," he replied.

"As I thought," Ritsuko stated. "In fact, that's what we had assumed. When we recovered Unit 01 from orbit, we were surprised when the data suggested that you were reforming in the entry plug. We had to scramble for the needed equipment to retrieve you. At the time though, we still had a few options to try to get you out, but we never got the chance." The screen then showed a video of a large mass of helicopters in the air above the Geofront. "The UN seized the Geofront and confined all Nerv personnel to an aircraft carrier."

"Makinami already told me that happened," Shinji said.

"Did she also tell you that Asuka was transferred to another facility?"

"N…No," Shinji replied. He was about to speak more, but Ritsuko cut him off.

"It was probably for the best, and it's not germaine to the briefing here. Another item worth mentioning before we move on was that both Commander Ikari and Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki evaded detention and disappeared, we didn't know where. It was likely that they were being sheltered by Seele."

"Seele?" Shinji asked. He thought he heard Asuka mentioned that name when they fought.

"Oh, you were never told about them while you were at Nerv?" Ritsuko asked. Shinji shook his head no. "I'll give you the short version then. They are the group backing Nerv. I can't give you many details about that group since the line between hard fact and rumor starts to blur when it comes to them. Suffice to say, they are not very good people."

"Now, it was during our confinement that Misato and I, along with Makinami and Burke here came to us. Shinji turned to Burke.

"You were with Kaji at that time?" he asked him.

"You bet," Burke replied. "Like Makinami, I was a pilot candidate as well."

"You?" Shinji looked at him with a mix of surprise and wonder.

"It's true," he continued, "but my experience was nothing more than a few physical training sessions, some sync tests. I never got a chance to get into an Eva. Makinami proved to be the more capable pilot. Do you want to tell you about the time she raced across the training facility wearing nothing but a towel because—"

"Vice-Commander, could we please get back to the matter at hand?" Ritsuko interrupted. Burke gave her a quick glare before nodding.

"Thank you," she said before continuing. "It turned out that the three were part of the UN not affiliated with any Evangelion organizations. It turned out that their group was in opposition to Nerv and presented us with information that gave us a rough idea of the Human Instrumentality Project. Long story short, he recruited us into what we know now as Wille. At the time, we were still officially affiliated with Nerv and we would have to remain on the carrier for the time being. However, we would soon get our chance to do something about it."

"What do you mean?" Shinji asked.

"The 11th angel," she replied. "The people who took over from us at HQ were a competent group, I'll give them that." She began displaying images of tanks in formation, helicopters on patrol, and defensives being erected. "With the Mark 6 backing them up, they were more than confident that they could beat back any monstrosity that came at them. "She then showed an image of the inside of a tent containing rows of cots, all of them occupied by a bedridden person.

"They all had the same symptoms when they were first brought in: Headaches, dizziness, blurry vision, bleeding from the eyes and nose on some of them. When a medical scan was completed on some of the patients, it showed that there were large clusters of bacteria settling on portions of their brains. Further analysis returned blood type blue. Not only were people becoming infected and some of them even dying, some of them were exhibiting odd behaviors." The screen played a video montage of various men and women repeatedly walking into a wall, going in circles, setting up and putting away tables and chairs ad infinitum. "It can only be assumed the bacteria was learning."

"Learning?" Shinji didn't understand what she meant. Ritsuko tapped a few keys on her laptop and brought up an image of a human brain with blue patches on it.

"Apparently, those clusters weren't just settling on random parts of an infected person's brain. Placing scans from multiple patients side by side showed the clusters were on the same areas, or at least very close to them. These are areas that control movement, balance, and memory. Furthermore, the clusters were able to send and receive signals to each other similar to human nervous system. And all of these factors led to this." She brought up a video showing two soldiers standing guard when they were approached by a third that seemed to be walking unsteady. There was no audio, but Shinji could tell that the guards began to talk to the third, who offered no response. After a minute, the confused guards approached the third, who then shot the other two. The screen switched then to another video of two soldiers shooting up a full canteen, followed by another video of someone trying to trying to strangle a nurse in the medical tent. Shinji turned his head away, he couldn't watch anymore.

"You can see that it was quite the situation," Ritsuko resumed speaking, "They tried to control the situation but it kept getting worse. Reaction led to overreaction, and everything went straight to hell." She then showed a video of the area around the Nerv Pyramid in flames accompanied by a chorus of explosions.

"How did you deal with it?" Shinji asked.

"Well, it wasn't easy," Ritsuko replied. "I mean, what do you do when using an Eva is unfeasible? And to compound our problem, antibiotics didn't work and nanomachines injected into patients were repulsed by the clusters using an AT Field. The first thing we had to do was to contain the infected people so that they wouldn't make contact with Lilith." She then brought up a still image of several large black columns being set into place. "These are anti-angel hex pillars. They're designed to neutralize an angel's abilities. We found when they were set up that any infected person would stop their advance. They weren't cured mind you, but they did see a reduction of symptoms. The next stage was figuring a way to defeat the angel. The best way we thought of was to engineer a virus to attack it without harming the patient. Deployed via aerosol, we were able to eliminate all traces of the angel within a month. The angel was defeated, but that was not our only purpose there. As members of Wille, which was still a shadow organization at this point, we had a secondary mission that ran parallel to defeating the angel. The first part of that mission was to get the MAGI away from Nerv and Seele control. We secretly transferred the OS into an identical structure halfway around the world while making it look as if it remained at Nerv HQ. I think it was one of the most clever things I was ever a part of, if I do say so myself." She beamed at that last sentence as Shinji looked confused and Burke rolled his eyes. She continued on.

"The second part was that under the guise of checking on the Nerv personnel still confined, Misato led a raid on the facility Shinkinami was being kept,and retrieved her."

"Was she okay?" Shinji asked. Ritsuko paused before she answered.

"It… might be best to ask her," she told him. Shinji slunk in his chair. He knew that would go nowhere remembering that she told him that it was none of his business when he asked her eye. He wondered if the two were related, but there was no time to ponder it further as Ritsuko continued to speak.

"The third part was to gain access to both Unit 01 and Unit 02. The latter unit was easy to get at, but we were unable to get to the former. After the 11th angel's defeat, we did receive some interesting news from the people who were holding it." The screen showed a new image and Shinji saw… himself in that picture. The hair was a little longer than he would normally keep it, so he couldn't see the doppelganger's eyes, but it did look like him. Shinji stood up in amazement at what he was seeing.

"Is that…me?" he asked.

"We thought it was," Ritsuko replied. "Captain Katsuragi… she was so glad when she thought that you had been recovered. She broke down and cried right in front of…well, I can't say you, can I. The DNA from it matched the records we had of you. It had no memory of what happened before, but that was chalked up to any trauma from being absorbed into and being reconstituted from Unit 01." She paused again for a few moments before speaking again. Shinji also noticed that both Hyuga and Burke had their heads down.

"One day, it suddenly attacked us, and it…maybe it's best to show you." The screen then displayed a video of several people shooting at something off screen. In a flash, the doppelganger charged at them with super human speed, and ripped through the defenders, tearing them to shreds. Shinji sat back in his chair and doubled over below the table, holding his hand over his mouth. The nauseousness soon went away, but he couldn't shake the image from his mind. "We refer to this creature as BM-01," she added.

"I feel sorry for the bastards who had to clean that mess up," He heard Burke mutter to himself. He felt a hand on his left shoulder, and when he turned in that direction, discovered Hyuga squatting next to him.

"You're going to be all right?" he asked Shinji, who nodded and waved him off. Hyuga returned to his seat, though he kept one eye on Shinji.

"There were forty of us who came from the carrier to fight the angel. Only seven of us remained. Misato… it took her a while to recover from it. I'm not even sure she has." Ritsuko murmured those last words. Shinji then spoke up.

"If I was still in Unit 01, what exactly was that…thing?"

"We're getting a little ahead of ourselves," she replied. "I want to discuss with you a few more pertinent facts before we get there." She brought up another video, this time of the 12th angel, twisting its way towards the ruins of the Geofront, receiving long-range fire from its defenders. "The 12th angel attacked. Naturally, the Mark 6 was dispatched to engage it."

"Kawrou fought the angel?" Shinji asked.

"No," She replied. "It was outfitted with an improved version of the dummy plug designed to allow the Eva to react to unforeseen situations." The video continued showing the Eva deploying against the angel, the two monstrosities barreling towards each other. The Eva then stopped in its tracks, the center parts of its torso blew off revealing a core, and spread out its arms as if was going to receive a hug. The angel hit the Eva's At Field, and at first seemed to repulse it. However, the angel pierced it, but it was more like a the Eva let it through, entering the core. After the angel was absorbed, the Eva appeared to pulse for a few seconds before it grew in size and and some of the colors began to turn to a sinister red. The Eva began to walk in a lumbering fashion towards the remnants of the pyramid.

"Wh-Why did it absorb the angel?" Shinji asked. The video continued to play showing the Eva now floating down the main shaft towards Lilith.

"There are two distinct reasons," Ritsuko answered. "The first is that we found out afterwords that the dummy plug had unique programming in it to make the Eva do just that." The video continued to play, the Eva had now breached Lilith's chamber. The tank battalion an a squad of VTOL craft were throwing everything they got at it, though it was to no avail. The Eva got closer to Lilith knocking the tanks and aircraft away with one of the craft landing on where the camera was filming, resulting in static.

"The second reason was that there was a…foreign body in the plug," she continued.

"Foreign body? I don't know what you mean." A sickening feeling was beginning to grow in Shinji's stomach.

"Another you, whom we refer to as BM-02," she stated. "Same genetic profile, same everything. All they had to do was place the thing in the plug."

"But why would they need…me to be in there?" Shinji asked. Ritsuko took a breath before she spoke.

"After 3rd Impact, Misato and I were sent as part of an investigative team into the epicenter. We found the video you just saw along with one individual of whom we did not expect." The monitors then showed a still picture of a group of people surrounding Kawrou Nagisa.

"Kawrou!" Shinji yelled.

"It caught us as much off guard as it did you," She remarked. He gave us some details of 3rd Impact we did not know along with a few revelations. The first of these was the existence of the Ayanami types." The screen showed a picture of several Ayanamis in LCL tubes.

"The second was that Nagisa was similar to Ayanami, that he was a clone, and he was the first angel." Shinji did remember him rambling something about being cast down to the 13th angel, though he didn't know exactly what he meant.

"The third was that there were clones of you as well." The main screen was filled with a large image of multiple Shinjis in a large tank of LCL. Shinji stared at the image not saying a word. The bottom half of his mouth quivered as he if wanted to say something, but no words came out.

"According to Nagisa, there were several of them that were around as children and he interacted with them. He even considered one of them a good friend," she continued. "Based on the actions of BM-01 & 02, you should now understand why you received the reception that you did aboard the Wunder. There was no way to immediately tell if it was really you, or if you were another copy ready to kill all of us. It could have been another trick courtesy of Commander Ikari."

"H-How were you able to tell if it was really me?" Shinji's voice was beginning to grow unsteady, and Burke took notice of it.

"We were able to take blood samples that we had sent here to New Constaninople to see if there were any signs of particular chemicals in your blood stream. The copies, like the Ayanami types, require these chemicals in order to maintain cellular cohesion in their bodies. This is due them being grown in a lab while you were carried by your mother, so you don't have that condition. However, there were some unique circumstances found when we analyzed samples from the copies."

"Samples?" Shinji's voice now sounded distant to Burke, as if he wasn't entirely there.

"Dr, Akagi, perhaps it's best to call it a day," he said. "What he has been told today is a lot to take in." Ritsuko answered Shinji.

"When we completed a more in depth analysis of your genetic structure, we discovered two things. The first is that there is no genetic connection between you and Gendo Ikari."

"He..He's not my father?" Everyone in that room could see the glint from tears forming in his eyes.

"No he is not," she replied. She was about to say more when Burke interrupted her.

"Vice-Captain, I insist that you cease with this briefing immediately. Can't you see that he needs time to process what he as already been told?"

"Maybe we should stop," Hyuga added. She ignored them both.

"The second discovery is that while your genetic makeup is mostly that of Yui Ikari, we found that there is angelic DNA within you and the clones that were based off of you."

"What does that…" Shinji didn't finish the question.

"It's means that you are not a true human being," she answered in an eerily calm demeanor. "You now know the truth. The question is whether or not it sets you free." In less than a second, Ritsuko was facing the business end of Burke's pistol.

"Do you know what the hell you've done?" Burke's voice was a sharpened knife.

"I told him what he wanted to know," She replied. "That's all I did."

"Did you have to be so damn specific with the details," he said. "I understand telling about the clones, you didn't have to tell he wasn't human, at least not now."

"Then when?" she countered. "Next month? Next year? Two or three years?" Burke gave no answer, and Ritsuko gave a thin smile. "I saved you all the trouble."

"But the cost you damn woman," Burke spat out. "You have to think of the cost. You didn't think of that, or worse, you decided not to. Which is it?" Before she could give an answer, Hyuga, who had been holding his hands up ever since Burke pulled out his gun, spoke up.

"You guys do realize Shinji left already." The two turned their heads towards where he was sitting, finding no one there. Burke rushed to the door and peered out into the hallway. He saw the tactical team that he had left, but Shinji was nowhere in sight.

"Where did he go?" He asked the team leader.

"That way sir," he pointed right behind him. "It's weird sir. The kid acted really out of it. I tried to say something as he passed by, but it was like he didn't hear me."

"Sweep the building for him and get me in contact with HQ. He needs to be found now."


	8. Chapter 8

Shinji felt as he was walking down the hallway that he wasn't moving of his own will, that he was being moved by an independent power. He didn't mind this, in fact, he didn't seem to mind anything. His emotions were non existent, dead would seem to be a better word for it. He reviewed all that he found out in his mind, going over each detail. Could it have been all true, he thought to himself. Along with all that he knew before he came to this city, he had to wonder if this was the reason he was brought into this world, to help destroy it? Can it even be considered his world? The only thing that he knew for certain was that whether it was or not, he could no longer be in it. That was for the best. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught his reflection in a stainless steel door. There wasn't too much distortion in it, so he was able to make himself out. However, he looked at it like it was something foreign to him, something alien. That's what he was, he thought. An alien in a world of human beings.

He looked away from it to see a sign that said 'Stairway for Emergency Use Only.' He opened the door to find the stairway and discovered that it would take him higher than the top floor. He went up a couple of flights when the stairs ended at another door. He opened it, meeting a blast of refreshing air. He stepped onto the roof of the building, there was nothing any higher. Taking in the wonderful view of the city, which he had always admired looking out at the city from the time he first set eyes on it he saw the tower that was Wille HQ at the center, looking as grand as when he first saw it. He also remembered that was where some in the Astronomy club wanted to have their stargazing night. He was going to miss that, but if they knew what he actually was, they wouldn't want to be friends with him anyway. This was for the best. At the very least he has the pleasure of one last grand look before it was all over.

Shinji made his way to the to ledge. Once he looked over the edge and saw how high we was up, he recoiled from there by instinct. Swallowing that instinct down, he put one leg on the ledge and was about to raise the other when the door opened with a bang. He turned around to find Burke at the doorway doubled over, cheeks flushed, holding his hand on one side of his torso, and making a high pitched wheezing sound. Shinji watched him for a good minute as Burke recovered himself and stood up straight, though he was still taking heavy breaths.

"Shinji," he said in between those breaths. "Please don't!" Shinji stared at him for several seconds before he answered.

"Why?" he asked him. Burke took another deep breath, not because he was still recovering, but because he was being careful in choosing the next words he was going to say. It could be all the difference.

"Because I don't believe that you are the type of person that can go through with it. By this time, the tactical team arrived on the roof along with Hyuga and Ritsuko, who arrived last as if she was being fashionably late to a dinner party.

"Then what type of person am I?" Shinji retorted. "Am I the scared little boy always trying to please a man who thought was his father. The Eva pilot who made a real bad mistake? Or the person who just found out that his entire life was one big lie, that he isn't even human in the first place? Tell me." Hood had come onto the roof as well and whispered something into Burke's ear, who nodded in reply. Shinji saw the two of them shift their eyes to their left, and was about to look himself when Burke spoke again.

"All of them Shinji. People are complicated, and part of life means dealing with those complications in other people, as well as ourselves. So, why don't you come on down and I can explain more if you like." Shinji made his refusal with a simple nod of the head.

"You don't get it. I've made Misato miserable, I've made Asuka miserable, I've made millions miserable over the years, and I might make more people miserable in the future. It has to end."

"Don't you understand that it wasn't you who did-" Burke began, but Shinji cut him off.

"It makes no difference." With the thumb and forefinger of his left hand, he pinched the meaty part of his right thumb to empathize his point. "There was no difference between them and me, we're the same. What was in them is in me. I'm not human!" He thought he saw something out of the corner of his right eye, and started to turn and see what it was when Hood began speaking.

"You have the same physical and emotional properties as any of us here," he said as he crossed over to Shinji's left. "Same organs, same nervous system, same everything. It's only on the genetic level where you are different. Otherwise, you fit the definition. Don't you see-"

"Enough!" Shinji shouted at him. He hung his head for several seconds before he rose it again to speak. "Look, this is the only way that I know that I can't cause people any more pain again. With me out of the way, it might even give you the edge in fighting Nerv." He turned towards Burke, who appeared to Shinji to have a look of, he could only assume to be failure. Perhaps that's what he thought of him all this time. Just another failure.

"Mr. Burke, tell the school that I found out my parents suddenly died or something like that. It should be enough of an explanation." He then looked at the people who had gathered up here. He had preferred to be alone when he did this, but it wasn't as if he could complain about it.

"Thank you," he said with tears forming in his eyes. "Thank you for letting me be in this world, even if it was only for a short time. "Shinji turned, ready to launch himself off the building in one single leap when he saw a foot flying at him. There wasn't even a second to react as he found himself of the floor of the roof staring up at the sky. He heard several sets of footsteps racing towards him. He tried to get up, but the foot that kicked him now landed itself square on his chest. It wasn't hurting him, but there was just enough pressure to prevent him from getting up. He tilted his head to see its owner to find Asuka towering over him.

"Asuka…" he said.

"Stay down idiot," she answered.

"Wh-Why won't you let me die?" he asked. She said nothing. Shinji was about to speak to her again, but felt a sharp pain on his thigh followed by Hood's voice.

"Okay Shinji, say good night," he said.

"Huh? What do you mean good night? It's…It's mid…afternoon…" Shinji slipped into unconsciousness. After checking his pulse, Hood stood up an put the syringe back in its case.

"It's all right now," he said to Asuka, who took her foot off him. "Call for a stretcher, We'll take him to the medical wing." As one of the tactical team members called to it, both Hood and Burke went over to Ritsuko.

"What the hell did you think you were doing ?" Hood asked her.

"What Shinji asked me to do," she replied. "I am not responsible for what he does with it."

"The hell you don't," Burke declared. "I was afraid something like this was going to happen. That's why I thought it was too soon. You should have refused him when he asked." As they continued to bicker, Misato followed by the stretcher team that brushed past her. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Shinji collapsed on the roof. As the stretcher team secured him, she went over to Asuka, who had been hovering over him, and conferred with her. The took Shinji away, Asuka following them. Misato watched them leave, and after they were gone, she marched over to Ritsuko, who saw her coming.

"Captain, I-" Ritsuko began to say when she was interrupted by her receiving a right hook from Misato's fist, knocking her to the ground.

"You were to consult with me before discussing any of those matters with Shinji!" she shouted at her. Ritsuko got up though she was still disoriented from the punch. Misato then turned to Hyuga.

"Commander, escort the Vice-Captain to the Wunder. I'll discuss these matters with you two when I return."

"Y…Yes Captain," Hyuga replied. He helped Ritsuko and led her off the roof.

"Well, there's nothing else we can do here," Hood said to everyone remaining. "Am I wrong Vice-Commander?" Burke shook his head no.

"Then let's get off the roof. Looks like rain anyway."


	9. Chapter 9

Kaji was sitting at his desk reading over reports from various departments over what had happened with Shinji when Burke walked right into the office, and without saying a word, went to the couch and laid down on it with a plop.

"Please, make yourself comfortable," Kaji said.

"Well, he's secured in the hospital wing," Burke said ignoring Kaji's sarcasm. "He's still sedated, but the docs say he'll wake up in about three to four hours. He is under constant video surveillance, but Shinkinami is by his bedside watching over him. I'm not sure if she is the right person to be there though." Kaji took off his reading glasses, and made his way over to a liquor cabinet to pour two glasses of Scotch.

"You don't need to worry about Asuka," Kaji stated. "She might not act like it, but she can pull her punches." He walked over and handed a glass to Burke who nodded his thanks. "Do you think he'll pull through."

"Hell if I know," Burke replied. "What he's learned today could push him past the brink, and that kid has already been on the edge of sanity once already. I guess we'll find out in a few hours." He drank half of his Scotch before he spoke again. "I…really fucked up back there."

"I don't see how," Kaji remarked. "You couldn't have known Shinji was going to do that."

"But I could have seen him leave the room," Burke countered. "I was too busy arguing with Akagi to notice him leave. If I stopped him at that point, a lot of grief would have been spared."

"But he didn't go through with it," Kaji said. "Can't you take some comfort in that?

"No I can't," Burke replied. "We didn't convince Shinji to step off that ledge. It was Shinkinami that made the save. I can now truly understand what the Duke of Wellington said about Waterloo being a close run thing." He drained the rest of his glass and held it out expecting it to be refilled. With a mild scowl, Kaji took the glass and refilled it.

"If you want more, I suggest you go to your own place or to a bar," he said as he handed Burke the glass.

"Wasn't planning on get blitzed," Burke replied before taking another sip. "I need to have my wits about me in case there's any news on Shinji." Kaji's desk chirped, and he headed over there.

"What is it?" he said.

"Sir, Captain Katsuragi is here to see you," a voice at the other end said.

"Send her in," he replied. Burke sat up on the couch as she walked in. She looked at both of them before she spoke.

"Commander, as commanding officer of the Wunder, I am informing you that there will be a delay in deploying for at least twelve hours due to…unforeseen circumstances."

"Very well Captain," Kaji said. "Would you care for a drink? Join the pity party?"

"I'm afraid not," Misato answered. "There are certain matters regarding a couple members of my crew that require me to be sober."

"Are you going to see him as well?" Kaji asked. She paused for a minute before she answered.

"That remains to be seen," She said. "Some of these matters require me to be aboard the ship, so I might not be able to take the time to go to the hospital."

"Misato…" Kaji muttered under his breath. The woman, in turn, was about to give her regards to him when she saw out of the corner of her eye Burke looking at her.

"What is it?" She asked him.

"I have been thinking, and I've come to realize that you were right," Burke said.

"Right? Right about what?"

"About Shinji. I wasn't able to do as good of a job as I thought." She gave a slight smile in his direction. Burke saw that it was not a condescending smile, but a smile of genuine sympathy.

"The Commander here has been forwarding your reports on Shinji's progress to me for the past few months. With all the things he was doing, the daycare center, school, even his home life, it seemed to me that he was genuinely happy. There was none of that in my apartment. There were fun times, yes, but it was always making sure he and Asuka were ready to pilot first and foremost. And yout know the results of that. He just left the apartment without looking back at me."

"You consider that bad?" Burke countered. "The kid tried to jump off your apartment building. At least you never had that. I… do owe you an apology for what I said back then."

"Back then?"

"When Shinji first arrived here, you asked me whether I could do a good job taking care of him, and I replied I could do better. That was a low blow on my part. I am truly sorry for that."

"Wait," Kaji interrupted. You mean to say that you still haven't apologized to her? It's been nine months since that happened."

"I said I was going to get around to it, and I finally had," Burke replied. Kaji could only shake his head while Misato laid a hand on Burke's shoulder.

"Don't worry about it," she said to him. "You deserve to be Shinji's guardian. So please, continue with that role. It's something I can no longer do. He might be glad to see you." Burke gave a slight squeeze of Misato's hand with his own.

"Thanks," he replied. "And as his guardian, I am wondering if you'll take the time to see him?" Misato took a sharp breath before answering.

"I'll try…that's the best I can say right now." Burke nodded in understanding as she turned towards Kaji. "Unless there is anything else Commander, I'll be on my way. I will be discussing with you necessary launch information latter this evening." The two men watched her leave, and once the door was closed, they turned back towards each other.

"She's still conflicted, isn't she?" Kaji asked.

"Seems that way," Burke answered. "So, where to we go from here? I mean, we don't know if Shinji is going to be all right or not?"

"For the moment, nothing, but I have a feeling we'll be able to proceed with Phase II in short order." Burke looked at his superior with an incredulous look on his face.

"You still think we can go on?" he asked. "You may not have heard me a few minutes ago, but I'm not sure if Shinji still wants to kill himself when he wakes up. What makes you think he'll be all hunky dory?"

"The people who are watching over him," Kaji replied. "Sometimes, one night is all it takes."

"Look, I'm still backing the plan, don't get me wrong, but I feel that you are being a bit over optimistic on our prospects right now."

"Well, telling Shinji was a major obstacle that had to be cleared, that was part of the process," Kaji said as he looked out of the window. "The problem was in the way he was told." Kaji stopped talking for a few seconds before he started again. "We'll need to find out why Akagi did it," he said. "There's a part of me that's not buying the answer she gave you."

"Right," Burke replied.

"Besides, it's always a good idea to be optimistic, even if the odds are against you. Nerv is keeping to their plans, we have to keep to ours," Kaji added

"Understood, but with they way things are though, it makes me wonder if we can even out play Gendo Ikari. It's like…how can I say this?"

"Like he's playing chess and and we're playing checkers," Kaji turned towards him.

"Worse," Burke stated. "It's like he's playing that 3D chess you see on Star Trek and we're playing Hungry Hungry Hippos." Kaji chuckled a bit at the analogy as he strode up to Burke.

"Our analysis shows that Gendo has no more use for him. That could become the man's Achilles heel," he said.

"If he doesn't have to stay in the psychiatric ward," Burke stated, "but I must have hope now do I?" he finished his Scotch and gave the glass to Kaji. "I'll be heading home. Keep me informed of Shinji's condition, no matter how minor. It's going to be real quiet at home." He said that last part to himself than to Kaji as he waved and left the office.

Shinji woke up once again to an unfamiliar ceiling, but just because it was unfamiliar didn't mean it was unrecognizable. Even in the dark, he could tell by the light fixture and the smell of the place that he was in a hospital room. The events of the day came back to him in a torrent. He hoped that maybe it was all a dream, that he just tripped somewhere and got injured, or even better, that he was in Tokyo 3 after some angel attack and none of it, the Wunder, New Constantinople, ever happened. That hope was soon crushed when he tried to lift his left arm, but could only move it a little before it was stopped, hearing the jingle of a chain as he did so. He turned his head to see that his wrist has a restraint on it attached to a chain to the bed railing. Shinji tried to move his right arm to confirm and got the same result, he didn't need to look at it.

"I see," he muttered to himself in resignation. He relaxed and stared up at the ceiling wondering how much of his useless life it would take before he drifted off to sleep. A familiar voice made sure he wouldn't.

"Looks like you're awake." Shinji turned to his right and saw Asuka sitting in a chair. The glow from the collected lights of the city illuminated her and good eye. Shinji thought he saw a pale blue light where her eye patch was, but he dismissed the idea, assuming he was seeing things. The light, however, didn't show the rest of her face, so he didn't know what emotion she was projecting at the moment, whether it was anger, joy or even sadness. It could even be all three at once.

"It's you," he said to her. She said nothing to him in reply, but continued to look at him. Of course, she wouldn't want to talk to him, he wasn't worth talking to. After a minute or so, Asuka began to remove his restraints.

"Wha-What are you doing?" Shinji blurted out.

"Move over," she said as as she leaned over to remove the other restraint.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"It's pretty late to go back, so I'm sleeping here. Now move over." Shinji did as she asked, and heard Asuka get into bed right beside him, throwing one of her arms over him. For a few minutes it was quiet. Shinji remembered that time she came into his room at Misato's apartment. Like then, he could hear her breathing and feel the warmth from her body. He thought that he would be able to get back to sleep, but he hadn't closed his eyes for ten seconds when Asuka spoke again.

"Shinji."

"…Yeah?"

"Why did you do it?" Shinji remained silent for thirty seconds trying to put into words his reasoning. He concluded that she probably didn't want a long answer, so he said a brief words, which summed up his feelings the best.

"There was no reason not to." To his surprise, Asuka didn't yell at him. She snickered at his answer.

"Just when I thought that the furtherest depths of your idiocy have been reached, I find there is more to go. That's sort of impressive in its own fucked up way."

"Well, why should I live?" he retorted. "I don't see a damn reason why I should, me and my kind," he still couldn't get used to the concept, "we have caused nothing but misery. Better to end it and save the world the trouble."

"So, you're going to throw everything you have gained away?" Asuka asked.

"What exactly did I gain?"

"What about those kids that are at the daycare center? Wasn't there some little girl that liked you?"

"You mean that girl that kicked you in the shin?"

"Yeah, yeah, that girl who-never mind that part!"

"Her name is Akane," Shinji stated.

"Akane…" Asuka said. "Nice name for her."

"She's a lot like you," Shinji replied. "She's really bossy and can order some older kids around."

"I like her already," Asuka said. "So…were you just going to abandon her?" Shinji's entire body stiffened at that question. Abandon her, just like his, for lack of a better word, father?

"She has a family," Shinji answered. "There are people who care for her. Besides, if she ever found out what I am, she'll hate me, think that I'm some sort of monster. She'd probably be right."

"Knowing her, she'd probably think that would be cool," Asuka countered. "There are tons of kid's stories where the kid and a monster are friends, but I think she would still see you as he one who she has tea parties with."

"Maybe…" Shinji said. "But still, I'm not human. I shouldn't be in this world. I can never be just like anyone else."

"Big whoop," Asuka declared. "I'm not human either." Shinji turned his head back towards her, thinking he didn't hear her correctly.

"You? Really? Then how are you able to—"

"I wasn't engineered like you," she interrupted him. "I was human when we first met all those years ago. The ninth angel changed all that." Shinji's eyes widened as horrible memories of that day resurfaced.

"I'm sorry," he creaked out. "I didn't want to hurt you, but there was some system that took control away from me. That's why I—"

"I know about the dummy plugs," she interrupted him again. "I know that you meant well, but you could have tried to stop it on your own."

"Burke said the same thing," Shinji replied. "That's why I tried to save Ayanami. I failed once, I didn't want to fail again." He prepared himself for a verbal onslaught from Asuka, but he heard nothing. He thought for a second that she had fallen asleep, but she then spoke again.

"Look at me."

"Huh?"

"I said look at me, damn it." Shinji turned over and faced her. He still had no clear picture of her face, so he was unsure what her emotions were. He was about to say something when in one swift motion, Asuka grabbed his left hand, and shoved it under her shirt, placing it on her abdomen. Shinji at that moment was glad that it was dark as he didn't want her to see how beet red he was. Why would she do such a thing?

"Feel around," she told him, "and if you go too far north or south, you're losing that hand." From side to side, Shinji began to feel around. He took notice of the smoothness of her skin, and how well toned the muscles underneath were. Despite her warning, he couldn't help but feel a little turned on by the whole matter. He then noticed that the feel of her skin had changed. It seemed tougher, as if it was massed together. It felt that way as he moved his hand across before the texture returned to normal.

"Weird," was all Shinji said as he removed his hand from her shirt.

"What you felt was the scar tissue from my injuries at that time," she said. Shinji froze. It was his fault that she had those scars.

"I told you I couldn't stop it. I-"

"I already said I know!" Asuka cut him off. "I did blame you for it until I heard the whole story. I don't now." Then why did she punch the glass wall on the Wunder, Shinji wondered to himself as she continued her story.

"After you were absorbed into Unit 01 and I was stable, I was moved to another Nerv facility where I was for a couple of months. They performed experiments…I…don't like to talk about it. It was Misato who rescued me. When she realized what they were doing to me, she had all the scientists responsible lined up against the wall and shot." Shinji wasn't sure if she could see him do it, but his mouth hung open a little in surprise.

"I was then moved to an aircraft carrier where the other Nerv personnel were bring held. That's when I met Makinami. She really helped me with some things…but don't tell that to her. I don't want to give that four-eyed crony even a smidgen of satisfaction." She paused for a few minutes trying to get her thoughts together before she went on. "You know, there was a wish I had, more like a little daydream, while I was at the lab. You were in Unit 01 and you were ripping the ceiling of my cell off to rescue me. They tried to stop you, but they couldn't, and you leveled the place, just to save me. Of course, you never did. Years and years passed, and you stayed in Unit 01, and the situation got worse…and then you had the nerve to come back now? That's what I was thinking when we met on the Wunder. But I guess things are they way things are. I'm not angry with you anymore. All of my anger went into that Plexiglas."

"Why are you telling me this?" Shinji asked.

"Because not only was I angry with all that had been done to me, I wanted to die as well," she answered. "I couldn't stand what I was. I begged Misato to put me out of my misery, but she refused. It was her and Mari, again don't tell her, that convinced me to live. They told me that as I was still alive, my life shouldn't be something that I could throw away, that I could find a place in this world… and I'm glad they did."

"Is that why you saved me?"

"Yeah," Asuka replied. "Is it weird for me to feel sympathy for you?"

"It is," Shinji answered. "We're completely different. Horrible things have happened to you. I did horrible things to you, to many people. If not me, then those like me. I don't deserve to live. I know my death wouldn't make everything all right, but it would give people peace of mind."

"The hell it does," Asuka declared. If your death would do that, why was the Vice-Commander and everyone else trying to convince you not to do it? Why would I risk my own neck to climb up onto that ledge to stop you?" Shinji didn't answer as he was unable to refute her words.

"Perhaps there are some in the know who are wary of you, but why should they matter? Do you want to get praise from everybody?"

"No," Shinji replied. "Just you, Misato, Ritsuko, even my fath-" he stopped. "No, he's not my father…what were all those years for?" He began to shake as he said those words. Asuka put her arms around him and brought him close to her.

"You're free of him now, you're free of him," she whispered as she stroked his hair. Soon, Shinji stopped shaking and calmed down, Asuka continuing to hold him. They remained silent for several minutes.

"Everyone knows all the work you did," She then said. "You fought for us, protected us. Now let us fight for you, protect you. You have a life you can go back to. The daycare center, your school, even the club you belong to."

"We're having a stargazing night in a couple of weeks," Shinji said.

"That's something to look forward to," Asuka declared. "The Wunder is leaving in several hours. It will be probably be a couple of months before we return to the city. I want to see you alive and well when I do. Will you be there when I return? I…would really like that."

"Will you come back alive too?" Shinji asked.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" she asked in mock indignation. "I'll rack up so many kills, you won't believe it. "I'll also get you a souvenir or two. So, is it a promise?" Several seconds passed.

"It's a promise," Shinji said. Asuka held him closer and they laid in bed on relative silence for several minutes.

"You're kind of like a big sister," Shinji said. Asuka's eye widened, but returned to normal.

"That's something I can live with," she said. "Now go to sleep little brother."

"Sure," Shinji soon drifted off to sleep, dozing lightly never entering the dream state. After a while, he felt Asuka get up and heard voices, he thought one was Mari and the other was Misato, but he wasn't sure. Not too long after that, he then thought he heard Mari singing.

 _In the early morning rain_

 _With a dollar in my hand_

 _With an aching in my heart_

 _And my pockets full of sand_

 _I'm a long ways from home_

 _And I missed my loved one so_

 _In the early morning rain_

 _With no place to go._

In his half-awake, half-asleep state, Shinji could follow the tune and lyrics as she went on, admiring Mari's voice and how well she sang.

 _Out on runway number nine_

 _Big seven o seven set to go_

 _Well I'm stick here on the grass_

 _Where the pavement never grows_

 _Where the liquor tasted good_

 _And all the women were fast_

 _There, there she goes my friend_

 _She's rolling down at last._

As he was listening, Shinji thought that there was something sad about the lyrics, even wondering why Mari would sing such a sad song.

 _Hear the mighty engines roar_

 _See the silver wing on high_

 _She's away and westward bound_

 _Far above the clouds she'll fly_

 _Where the morning rain don't fall_

 _And the sun always shines_

 _She'll be flying over my home_

 _In about three hours time._

It then occurred to him that Mari could be sad herself What could she be sad about? Life seemed to be going well for her, and it looked like she enjoyed piloting the Eva. He just didn't understand.

 _This ol' airport's got me down_

 _It's no damn good to me_

 _And I'm stuck here on the ground_

 _As cold and drunk as I could be_

 _Can't jump a jet plane_

 _Like you can a freight train_

 _So I best be on my way_

 _In the early morning rain._

Shinji thought it was ridiculous that she was singing about being stuck on the ground when she was the one who was going to be on the Wunder. He was the one on the ground. Then another thought came to him. Maybe his situation reminded her of that song. Could she perhaps be sad for him? If she had empathy for him, did that mean other people could as well, that he was worthy of it, even knowing what he actually was? The swirl of thoughts and emotions overwhelmed him and he drifted off into a deep sleep.

 _So I best be on my way_

 _In the early morning rain._

Shinji dreamed what he thought later when he was awake a rather absurd dream. He was in the middle of the Antarctic with blowing snow all around him, though he didn't feel cold at all. He soon came upon a group of penguins, who moved aside as he walked through them. He approached what looked like a large throne only to find Pen Pen sitting upon it surrounded by a group of female penguins. He had no way to tell whether they were, but it felt as if they were. He appeared to Shinji as if he was a warrior king as there were several scars on his body. Pen Pen pointed to his left, and Shinji turned in that direction. He saw a column of bright light that appeared to be towering over them, and at the same time, also appeared to be hundreds of miles away. The light was calling to him, not with words, but with a will that was sprouting within him. Before he could question all of this, he woke up, not to the sight of the ceiling, but the window. The outside was a steel gray overcast and the window itself looked at as if it had a few spots of rain on it, bringing to mind the song that Mari sung. He sat up and looked around at the hospital bed, he was all alone. The door opened and a nurse stepped in. She then stopped and looked at Shinji.

"Who removed your restraints?" She asked.

"The person who was in here during the night," Shinji answered. "I won't do anything, I swear." The nurse had a suspicious look to her, making Shinji wish Sakura was here instead of her.

"I'll have the doctor see you right away," she said as she made her way to the phone. "And how are you feeling this morning?" Shinji told her what he truly felt.

"I feel hungry."

"I'll order some breakfast at the same time," she said as she picked up the receiver and began to dial. As she was making the call, Shinji heard two men, he didn't know if they were doctors or hospital workers, talking in the hallway as they were walking as their words became clearer as they got closer.

"Did you see that babe who was here earlier?" One of them said.

"You mean the one who was seeing the kid?" the other asked. "I heard that she's the captain of the Wunder."

"And she's fucking hot to boot," the first exclaimed.

"What the hell do you mean? She's got to be over forty."

"That doesn't mean she isn't bang-worthy." Shinji listened to their inane conversation as it drifted away from earshot. He smirked and laid back on the bed staring up at the ceiling. As he was looking up at it, he thought about what was above the ceiling. The answer, of course, was more rooms whether they were for patients or labs, or anything else a hospital needs. We then asked himself what would be above those rooms. The roof of the hospital. And above that? The sky, though it was cloudy that morning. What was above that? It was the stars he loved so much. Thinking about it that way, the ceiling became less an unfamiliar and became more of an old friend. And that reasoning gave Shinji a needed comfort, and even hope. Not just for the immediate future, but something that could last the rest of his life.


	10. Chapter 10

Shinji walked into his classroom letting out a yawn as he crossed the doorway. That yawn caught the attention of Miyashima, who waved to him as Shinji sat down. He returned the wave, which was soon followed by Miyashima taking the desk right next to him.

"Why are you so damn tired?" Miyashima asked.

"Slightly weird dream, no big deal," Shinji replied. "What's up?"

"Nothing too much. I was just wondering if you have read the latest Duke LaCrosse novel?"

"No, has it already come out?" The space adventure novels were pretty popular among both among the student body, and the general public. While he had to do some catching up, as Shinji only had read the first book because Hood brought him a copy along with some other reading material when he was in the hospital, he had soon read them all in quick succession.

"You bet," Miyashima replied as he brought out the book from his bag. "You want to take a look?"

"Sure," Shinji answered.

"A word of warning though," Miyashima said as he handed Shinji the book. "The beginning is something that will knock you on your ass."

"Really?" Shinji asked as he flipped to the first page thinking his friend was engaging in hyperbole. He recalled that at the end of the last book, things were looking rather bleak for Duke as his friends, or what was left of them. The first scene appeared to take place in a hospital room with Duke visiting one of his female friends. As he continued to read, his hands, which were holding the book, started to shake. After a minute of continued reading, Shinji slammed the book shut, giving a shock to some of the students nearby. He shifted his eyes from one end to another seeing if anyone was looking over shoulder before getting close to Miyashima so no one else could overhear them.

"Was he-" Shinji whispered.

"Oh yeah," Miyashima answered.

"But he was-" Shinji continued, but was interrupted again.

"I know, I was as shocked as you were."

"I mean, you know, she was comatose, and well…I mean…he got it on his hand! What kind of person would do something like that?" He slunk down on his chair, staring at his desk.

"That's so fucked up," he half whispered.

"It's just what I said," Miyashima stated. "On your ass." He grabbed the book from Shinji and put it on his lap. "Do you want to read mine after I'm done with it, or are you planning on buying your own?"

"I'll get my own," Shinji replied. "I have to find out what's going on in in that-" Instead of finishing, he caught a figure over his friend's shoulder. He saw Miyoko looking into the classroom straight at him before quickly walking away. Shinji looked at the now empty doorway for a few seconds before the back of Miyashima's head got in his way.

"What are you looking at?" he asked Shinji as he looked in the same direction.

"I thought I saw…oh, never mind," Shinji replied as the bell began to ring, signaling the beginning of class.

* * *

"Please refrain from yawning," the Ayanami type said to Shinji.

"Oh, sorry," Shinji reset his head to where she had told him to place it, away from her so that his profile was facing her and the head was titled upward at a slight angle.

"You seem to be tired," she told him as she concentrated as her sketch pad.

"Yeah, a little," he replied remaining in his set position. "There was this weird dream I had last night. Made it hard to get to sleep the rest of the night."

"A dream?" she asked not looking up from her pad.

"I mean, it wasn't as if it was a nightmare or something. I don't even remember what most of it was about. The part I do remember was that I was outside on a grassy field. I turn to the south, don't ask me how I know it was that direction, and I see a distant light, and that light was calling to me. As I said, it was weird." She stopped her sketching for a good ten seconds before she began again.

"Have you had other dreams that were similar?" she asked.

"I think so," Shinji replied. "I mean, it's not like I have them every night, but they do happen pretty often.

"I…see…" she said. "I'm finished." Shinji stood up and stretched while she removed the sheet from the pad. She then went over to her desk, which was littered with previous drawings along with others posted on the adjoining wall. Shinji looked at his portrait. It wasn't exact, but it got the main details right. He joined her at her desk where she laid the drawing on it. Shinji noticed one of the drawings on the wall.

"What is this?" he pointed at it.

"Self portrait," she replied. Shinji took a closer look at the work. The hair looked like hers, but it was the face where there was a problem in that there was no face. Instead, there was a black smudge with specks of white in it. Shinji could swear that it looked like a star field.

"It's…interesting," he remarked.

"Indeed," she replied. There was a pause in the conversation Shinji was familiar with. Based on how well they had been talking, he decided that this was as good as a place to end the visit as any. Besides, he had an appointment to keep.

"Well, I guess I'd better get going," he said.

"Okay," she said. "What was it that Commander Kaji wanted to see you about?"

"I'm not sure." While that was technically true, Shinji did have his suspicions, but he wasn't going to tell her. It would ruin the surprise if his assumption was right. "Anyway, I'll be on my way." He knocked on the door. "I'll see you in a few days, all right?"

"Sure," She watched him leave, with Shinji giving her a wave before the door closed. When she was alone, she let out a breath.

"So you're having them too," she said to herself.

* * *

Shinji squirmed a little in the rather comfy chair that was facing Kaji's unoccupied desk. He'd been in here for over ten minutes and Kaji wasn't here. He couldn't help but compare it to being in a doctor's office. He then heard the door open and shut behind him and saw Kaji sit at his desk.

"Sorry I'm so late," he said. "Some important matters come up, and I was delayed. How has your day been?"

"Good. It's pretty good," Shinji replied.

"I've been told that you saw the Ayanami type today," Kaji stated.

"Yes, I did," Shinji said. "Is she the reason you asked me to see you?"

"Oh." Kaji brought up some information on his computer. "It's not. But since you brought it up, we have read through your request and while I personally have no objections, that opinion is not shared by some, especially in the upper levels of command. They feel that because of the nature of the Ayanami types, they are not certain that it would be safe to have her around the children at the daycare center, due to various physiological and mental uncertainties. Between you and me though, I think their fears are overblown."

"I see," Shinji replied, letting his disappointment show on his face.

"The issue is not dead," Kaji declared. "They just need a little more time to be convinced. You understand?"

"Yeah." It didn't make Shinji feel any better. "Then what did you want to see me for?"

"Ah yes," Kaji tapped a few more keys. "I brought you here because there is something that you could help us with."

"Like what?"

"Answer this question first," Kaji replied. "When you look back at the time you were an active Eva pilot, do you think it would have helped you if there was someone who did these things before, to give you guidance about the ins and outs of being a pilot?" Shinji took a few a minutes to think about the question. He recalled the time when he first arrived in Tokyo 3 and all that occurred. Would someone had helped? Misato tried to be, but she wasn't adequate. He even remembered calling her out on it, accusing her of not understanding, saying to her that it was easy to give out orders because she was in relative safety. Ayanami was injured at the time, so she couldn't have been in that role either, and Asuka hadn't arrived at that point. It could even be argued that by the time Asuka arrived, _he_ was the expert in some areas. Looking back at it all, he was ready to answer.

"I think it could have."

"I see," Kaji replied as he was tapping on a pad. "Take a look here." He turned the screen around to face Shinji, who started to browse through the data. The first thing that caught his attention was the girl's picture. Her dark medium length hair was layered in curls, but it didn't prevent him from getting a clear look at her dark brown face, her hazel eyes being the most prominent feature. Even though they ask for a neutral expression when they take a portrait, as Shinji could attest, he could still get a sense of sweetness about her. He looked at the other information that he could access such as her birth date, where she was from, which was Toronto, and even her measurements, which made Shinji blush for a brief moment. The last thing he focused on was the girl's name, which he spoke to himself.

"Joanna Kingston."

"She will be the pilot of Unit 11," Kaji stated. "We would like you to assume that kind of role for Joanna. With your experience, both good and bad, we believe that you are able to help guide her, not only to help her be a better pilot, but also to help her avoid some of the same mistakes."

"I'm not sure," Shinji replied, staring at his feet. Kaji leaned back in his chair, and gave an understanding nod.

"I realize this was thrust upon you rather suddenly, so you can take your time to make your decision. She won't be coming for about a week or so." Kaji stood up, followed by Shinji.

"Of course. I'll tell you before then. At the very least, thank you for the opportunity." With a bow, Shinji left the office. Kaji watched him leave and when the door closed, letting out a sigh before turning to other matters.

* * *

A couple of days later, Shinji was still mulling over the proposal. It occupied most of his thoughts during those days, and was still thinking about it even as Akane put a large floppy hat on his head. That action brought him back to the here and now, feeling the brim as the girl stood in front of him, hands on her hips.

"Excuse me," she said.

"Oh, sorry," Shinji said. "I can't believe I spaced out like that."

"And I still can't believe that you talked me into this." Those words came from Miyashima who had a pink feather boa wrapped around his neck, his face covered with gobs of blush and his lips covered in lipstick in a messy fashion.

"Looks good on you," Shinji remarked.

"Shove it," Miyashima replied, "but you are right that that you do seem out of it. Is something wrong?"

"Something wrong…" Shinji had a three second debate in his head on whether to tell him or not. He concluded that as long as he remained vague on the main details, it should be all right.

"Well, I was asked to help with something long term. It's not wrong or anything, but I'm not sure if I can help the way the person who asked me to expects of me."

"I have a feeling that you can't give me a lot of details over this 'something.'" Miyashima said. Shinji nodded.

"Sorry about that," he added. "I don't know how much I'd be allowed to tell you about it. I can say it's nothing illegal or anything like that, but it's…sensitive to say the least."

"If you say so," Miyashima said. "Well, assuming that everything is on the up and up, I have to say that if you want to do it, you can tell this person that what you could do might be limited and that you can't guarantee success. You know what I mean?"

"I get what you're saying," Shinji replied. "But I'm not sure I should do it in the first place. You see, it involves helping a person through some stuff that I have been through a few years ago. I'm afraid that would fail this person, that what I can do might not be enough."

"I don't think you would fail if you could help just a little, it will be a good thing. Am I right?"

"I suppose," Shinji said.

"And who knows, maybe what you would say or do could effect others in the same boat."

"Yeah…" Those words from Miyashima made Shinji real quiet. It put him on a train of thought that was equal parts fascinating and disturbing in its implications.

"Hey Shinji, you all right?" Miyashima asked.

"Oh, fine. I'm fine." He said.

"Are you two going to listen to me?" Akane asked them, hands on her hips. "It's time to start to the play."

"Okay," Shinji said to her followed by taking a look a Miyashima, who had the combined look of fear and resignation that should be reserved for when someone is facing the firing squad.

* * *

"Well Shinji, have you thought about what we talked about a few days ago?" Shinji was back in front of Kaji's desk.

"I have," he answered. "I talked to one of my classmates about it too. Don't worry, I didn't give him too many details."

"It's all right," Kaji declared. "I trust your judgment. Did this classmate of yours help you make up your mind?" Shinji took a deep breath before he answered.

"He did help me think up a question."

"A question?" Kaji leaned back at his chair, studying his guest.

"What about the others?" Shinji asked.

"Others?"

"I mean, there was a Unit 8, and I was in Unit 13." Shinji said. "So, there had to be other Units. And besides me, there was only Ayanami, Asuka, and Mari. There are more Evas than pilots, so it makes me wonder who else was a pilot." Kaji took a breath before he spoke.

"Excellent question. Some of those Units were manned by Ayanami types, but there have been some that were manned by other pilots."

"What happened to them?" Shinji had an idea what the answer was, but was fearful that it would be confirmed.

"There were a few that fought for a while before retiring, and then there were…a few that…didn't survive combat."

"Oh," was the only thing Shinji said. Kaji leaned forward and placed his arms on his desk.

"This is why we want you take this position," he said. "You know that piloting isn't risk free. You can give Joanna all the help she can get. No one wants to see any more causalities. Will you join us?"

"What if I fail?"

"Even if something bad happens, if you helped her for the days before that, can you really say you failed?" Kaji stated. Shinji sat in silence, reflecting on Kaji's words. His thoughts boiled down to one question. Does he believe that this pilot deserves a better fate than he had or perhaps even Asuka and Mari? What other answer was there?

"I'll do it," he said.

"Are you sure?" Kaji asked him. Shinji answered by nodding his head. "I'm still afraid though."

"Okay then…" He then took a deep breath trying to get his thoughts in order. "It'll still be a few days before Joanna arrives. I will talk to Burke and he will bring you up to speed on the various workings here."

"Sure," Shinji said.

"I'd take you out the celebrate, but a commander's work is never done. Come here after school tomorrow. If you have your club, you can still go to it. At that point, we'll discuss further details. On, there's one more thing I have to add."

"What is it?" Shinji asked. Kaji stood up and offered his hand to him.

"Welcome to Wille," he said. Shinji stood up as well and gave it a firm shake.

"Thank you," he said.

"Great, see you tomorrow," Kaji said. After Shinji left the office, he stood there for a few seconds watching the door.

"I'm proud of you kid," he muttered to himself before returning to his work.


	11. Chapter 11

Shinji opened up the door to his newly assigned locker at Wille HQ's changing room nd found his new jacket on the hanger. The jacket was a simple tan with four pockets, two on each side of the chest and two on the bottom where the garment would cover the hips. On the left sleeve was a patch of the Japanese flag while the right sleeve had a patch displaying the ten rings of New Constantinople in a bright blue. He took off his school blazer and put on the Wille jacket, and when he buttoned it up, he stood in front of a large mirror to look at himself. With the shirt and tie from his school uniform, he had to admit that while he was no expert on fashion, he thought he looked pretty good. He closed the door to his locker and stepped out of the room, where Burke was waiting for him.

"Not too shabby," he said when he first saw Shinji, but you don't need to have it buttoned up."

"You think so?"

"Yeah," Burke replied as Shinji unbuttoned the jacket. "There," he said when Shinji was done. "It makes you look professional without looking too formal and stuffy."

"I see."

"Okay, now we're off to the meeting." Burke declared.

"Are you sure you want me there?" Shinji asked.

"Definitely sure," Burke answered as they began walking. "You are not expected to attend every meeting. I mean, you've got to go to school. But as this one, at least in part, concerns Joanna, I want you to be there. I also want to introduce you some of the other personnel that you'll be interacting with from time to time. You've already met Sam, but there are more people both the Commander and I feel you need to meet. We'll also head over to the Command Center afterwords, so you can meet the bridge crew as well as get a better idea of how we do things, and your place in the greater scheme of things."

"I hope I can help all of you," Shinji said.

"Don't sweat it, you'll be fine," Burke declared as the two made it into the meeting room. The room, which was semicircular in shape, was about thirty meters in diameter, the floor and ceiling colored white. The walls consisted of screens flush with each other so that either a single of image or a multitude of them could be presented. Burke had told him earlier that this setup, along with the holographic technology that was in the room, allowed them to produce 3D images without the need for special glasses. The room also contained a crescent shaped table where a few people were sitting at it.

The two took their seats right next to each other with Shinji swiveling his seat around taking a good look at everything. Some people were waiting at the table already either talking to their comrades or looking at papers and screens. From time to time, he caught the eye of these people. He gave short nod in greeting, and these people would either ignore him or give him a nod before returning to whatever they were doing. Shinji wondered if that was because they didn't know who he was or if in fact they did. He shook those thoughts out of his head as he noticed a few more people enter the room, with one of them seeming familiar to him, though he had no clue in what particular way. The man in question looked around the room taking in who was there stopped when he saw Shinji. His eyes widened and his mouth hung slightly open for a few seconds staring at the boy, before beaming a huge smile right at him and taking his seat. Shinji didn't know what to make of the whole encounter. It was equal parts confusing and creepy. A few minutes later, Hood entered the room, and when Burke saw him, he spoke up in a voice that everyone could hear.

"Okay everyone, if we're all here. I'd like to begin." Everyone turned their attention towards Burke. At the the same time, Burke slid a small stack of paper in Shinji's direction. Glancing at them, he saw that some of them were materials for him including Joanna's biography, along with some material and diagrams he couldn't understand. Burke continued speaking.

"There are several items that are on the agenda today. Sam, would you like to start?" Hood stood up and began to speak.

"In three days, there will some new arrivals to our fair city. One of them is a new weapon from Hamburg that we get to field test." Hood tapped the keys on the table in front of him bringing up a holographic image was, at first glance, looked at like a spinal cord from some strange animal as the metal components were shaped in such a way that they resembled pieces of bone. The two things that looked unnatural, if that term can be used, were handles protruding from the weapon and that it separated at one end, which would give the appearance of the barrel. "The code name given for it by them is 'Spine of the Death God,'" he added.

"Spine of the what?" One of them asked. Shinji noticed Burke mouthing the name with a face that seemed to him as if he just tasted something awful.

"I know, weird name," Hood stated. "For sake of ease, we're referring to it as the boom stick." A few of the chuckled when they heard the name. "I see some of you get the reference," he continued. "The weapon, which is properly called a Sinking-Type Field Invasion Gun, works by using a corrosive AT Field to launch projectiles composed of protons nearly at the speed at light. With all that kinetic energy that builds up when it hits the target would be nothing short of explosive. For those who didn't understand many of the words that I just said, you shoot at something and that thing will go boom." Some of the attendees whistled in response. Shinji overheard the man who was watching him muttering to himself.

"Awesome, awesome, awesome," the man kept repeating.

"We will be using Unit 11 to conduct field tests, of which we hope to complete in the next several weeks," Hood continued, "and this leads us to our next subject." The hologram disappeared and was replaced by a picture of Joanna along with some of her basic information.

"Everyone, this is the pilot of Unit 11, Joanna Kingston. She will be joining us at the end of week."

"Will she be assigned here or will she be sent to the Wunder?" one of them asked.

"Assigned here," Hood replied. "Also, she has been assigned a liaison officer," he gestured toward Shinji. "I'm sure some of you are familiar with Shinji Ikari." Shinji stood up and gave a quick bow to those assembled.

"A pleasure to work with all of you," he told them before he returned to his seat. Glancing around he saw some people murmuring to each other while keeping an eye on him. He soon saw that the same man who had taken notice of him earlier was now looking at him with a goofy smile on his face. Shinji turned away from him as fast as he could.

"We'll be looking forward to your service," Hood said before turning to Burke. "That's all on my end."

"Okay then," Burke said as he stood up. "Uh…Sara, please tell me you have any updates on the search for Nerv Headquarters." The woman only shook her head.

"No good Stan," she said. We searched every inch of the area around the Tokyo 3 area. It's just gone."

"Then where did it go?" Someone asked.

"We're not sure," She replied. "The best hypothesis we can think of is that it…left."

"Left?" Burke asked.

"Footage taken at the time of 4th Impact by the Wunder is either incomplete or they were focusing on the battle at the hand. But what footage we do have we do have shows the remnants of Nerv HQ floating up towards the Chamber of Guf. When the chamber disappears, it is gone. We believe it could have entered the vortex, before it closed up.

"Where would that vortex lead to or perhaps it's better to say, what does it connect to?"

"You're guess is as good as mine," Sara answered. Since both Gendo Ikari and Kozo Fuyutsuki were inside, we could assume that where ever it is, it's capable of supporting human life. But then again, Nerv HQ was built with sophisticated life support systems, so it's not an absolute requirement either."

"Let's save the speculation for other meetings," Burke said before he turned to the man that was keeping an eye on Shinji. "Ken, do you have anything to report?" The question caught him off guard as he was keeping one eye on Shinji.

"Oh, uh, nothing too much," Ken replied. "The city's defenses are at 97% readiness. The remaining 3% is due to maintenance, installation of new equipment, and a minor accident with one of the secondary generators. We've been running battle drills every two weeks with great success. Even though the city hasn't been attacked in over two years, we are ready to fight tonight if need be."

"Glad to hear it," Burke replied. "Will there be any problems incorporating Unit 11 into our defense plans?"

"Not that I can think of," Ken answered. "While most of our drills involves situations where it is just us. We also have had drills involving both the Wunder and Unit 02 and/or Unit 08. So incorporating Unit 11 won't be as difficult as you think."

"Good," Burke replied

"Might we also add something?" a man asked.

"Sure Li, what do you got?"

"I would like to point out to Ken that Intelligence has been getting reports of increased attacks from Mark 04s, not only on the Wunder, but from several cities."

"Maybe we should increase the drills to once a week," Ken said. "I would also appreciate it if Intelligence kept us better informed in the future." His voice sounded tense as he was speaking to Li.

"We do try to get the intel to you as soon as we can," Li replied. "You need to be realistic about what we can do and how long it can take to make an assessment."

"The only thing that I have to be realistic about is the fact that we have a major change in enemy movements, and I wasn't informed," Ken countered. "That isn't something that can wait for further analysis."

"Okay, that's enough." Shinji had never heard Burke raise his voice like that before. "I'll leave these matters to the two of you to clear up," Burke stated before turning to everyone else. "Is there any other business from Departments we haven't heard from?" Burke received nothing but silence. "Then this meeting is adjourned." As people started to leave, Burke turned towards Shinji.

"Shall we go to the command center?" Shinji nodded his assent and they left the meeting room. During the trip, Shinji noticed that Ken was following them. Wondering what was the man's deal, he increased the pace, hoping that the guy would go down another corridor. The two arrived at the command center and Burke let him take it all in. Shinji could count the number of times he had been at the Command Center in Tokyo 3, and while what was before him wasn't as impressive as that facility, it was still impressive in it's own right. The command center was arranged as if an amphitheater composed of three tiers of computer terminals facing a main monitor, each manned by a technician. Above all of them sat Kaji at his desk. He caught them out of the corner of his eyes.

"Glad to see you here," he said as he turned to them.

"Thank you for having me," Shinji replied.

"Sure thing," Kaji said. "I'm glad all three of you are here."

"Three?" Shinji turned around and discovered Ken right behind him, sending a flare of panic through his body. He must have figured that it showed up on his face as Ken addressed him.

"Is…is something wrong?" he asked.

"Uh…uh…well," Shinji stammered.

"Colonel Aida, what are you doing?" Burke asked.

"I don't know what you mean sir," Ken answered. The man's name made Shinji stop in his tracks. He began to put all the pieces together, the name he was called during the meeting, the quirks he saw from him as it was going on. Taking a closer look at him, Shinji could see the similarities. His hair was neater, his round glasses were replaced by smaller square frames, and his beard covered what freckles he did have. Could it possibly be…

"Kensuke?" he half-whispered.

"It took you that long to recognize me? I'm shocked. Maybe should have a video camera in front of my face." The sarcasm was thick, but Shinji didn't care about that.

"It is you!" he said. "I'm sorry, but you looked…"

"Handsome? Dashing? Regal?" Kensuke ran his fingers through his hair.

"I…was actually going to say older."

"Oh…" were the only words Aida said. Shinji tilted his head in confusion while Burke barely succeeded in stifling a laugh.

"Well, I do surprise myself sometimes," Aida said.

"You're pomposities is hardly surprising," a young woman in uniform said as she handed Aida a set of papers. "Here are those reports you asked for sir."

"Uh, thank you Lieutenant," he replied before turning back to Shinji. "Shinji, this is Lt. Jennette Bertain. She is one of the senior technicians here in the Command Center."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she said as she gave him a slight bow. Shinji took notice of her short brown hair, her hazel eyes, even the French Tricolor patch on her jacket sleeve.

"How do you do?" he said.

"And this here is Lt. Akihito Matsu." Aida said as he pointed towards a man at his post. Matsu never took his eyes from his screen, only giving a brief wave to the group.

"Finally, over there is Lt. Mark Lithgow.

"Hi," Mark said.

"Along with you assisting Joanna, we would like you to sit in with these three to give you an idea of how things go from this side of it," Kaji stated. "In the event that we go into battle, you'll be right here beside them." Even though he had no reason to feel this way, a feeling of dread washed upon him and receded as fast as it came.

"Oh, okay then," Shinji replied.

"It will be a pleasure to work with you," Janette told him.

"Okay Shinji we've got a few more places to get to," Burke said.

"Sure," Shinji said. "Thank you for letting me be here," he as to the others.

"Hey Shinji," Aida said as the two were walking out. "We should really get together sometime." A smile came upon Shinji's face.

"You bet," he yelled back as the door closed behind them.

* * *

Two days later, Burke, Aida, and Shinji were standing on the tarmac in the blazing sun with Shinji using his hand to shield his eyes from the sun.

"Where is the Commander?" Aida asked Burke.

"That's why I'm here. Another meeting with the higher ups."

"Well, I'm supposed to be at the military port supervising the unloading of the boom stick," Aida replied. "I can't stay too long."

"Wait, isn't it supposed to be landing around the same time as Joanna?" Burke asked.

"That's right, it's supposed to," Aida said. "It got delayed for a few hours due to the plane diverting its path to avoid the Mark 04s."

"I see," was all Burke said on the matter as the three heard a loud roar over them as a small jet flew low over them and made a landing at one of the runways. As it was taxiing into place, the three began to walk towards it.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Burke said as he fished through his jacket pocket, producing a small case. This is for you," he handed the case to Shinji who opened it to find a pair of sunglasses.

"Thought you would need them for the sun today," he added. Shinji put them on and noticed the improvement.

"Well Shinji, are you ready to meet her?" Aida asked. Shinji had begun to feel the weight of his responsibility as the day got nearer, but as he stood right next to the plane as the doors were opening, it felt crushing.

"I'll have to be," he stated.


	12. Chapter 12

Joanna Kingston filled the wash basin right to the top before she splashed her face with the cool water. Grabbing the towel, she wiped her face and was adjusting her her hair when she heard a knocking at the bathroom door.

"Excuse me," a voice said from the other side. "We'll be landing in ten minutes. Could you please return to your seat?"

"Oh, uh, sure. Sorry," she replied. "I'll be out in a minute."

"All right," she heard the owner of the voice walk away. Joanna resumed touching up and her hair, and once she was done, left the restroom and went back to her seat in the empty passenger cabin, buckling her seatbelt. She spent some time fidgeting with her seatbelt buckle and tapping her fingers on her seat's armrest, which came to an end when she caught sight of New Constantinople out of her window. She watched the city for several minutes concluding that seeing it for real was a lot better than the photos she saw. She soon felt the plane touch down, and as soon as it came to a stop, she unbuckled her seatbelt and stood up to stretch.

After making sure her pantyhose, of which her previous guardian had stated would help her look more professional and adult, was on straight and didn't have any runs, she grabbed her day bag from the overhead compartment, and made her way to the door. As the attendant was opening it, she took several quick breaths to calm down, yet she noticed that her right hand was still shaking in short tremors. She made a fist and put both her arms to her side, but she could still feel the nervous energy shooting through her arm. The door opened, letting in the outside light, which forced her to squint. She took a few more deep breaths before she took her first steps out.

"Here we go," she whispered to herself as she stepped out. As she made her way down the steps, she noticed three men at the bottom waiting for her. Two of them were wearing Wille jackets while one was in a suit, and all three were wearing sunglasses. As soon as she stepped off the bottom step, the one wearing the suit approached her.

"Joanna, is it?" the man said. "I'm Stanley Burke, Vice-Commander here." She thought his smile was warm, though the fact that he didn't shave that morning and the wind mussed up his reddish-brown hair took some of that warmth away.

Burke then pointed to one of the men in a Wille jacket. "This here is Colonel Kensuke Aida. He is the Chief of our Strategic Operations Department here at New Constantinople."

"How do you do?" he gave a slight bow. Burke then gestured to the third.

"And I am pleased to present to you Shinji Ikari. He will be your liaison officer." Shinji came toward her and stretched out his hand.

"Pleased to meet you," he said. Joanna shifted her eyes from his face. His smile was genuine, she could tell that right away, but there was something, not just with him but in just about everyone she met, that made her feel uncomfortable.

"Uh yeah, nice to meet you," she shook his hand for a brief second, keeping her eyes away from him.

"Okay, now that everyone has been introduced, shall we head over to where you'll be staying?" Burke said. "Your stuff should be coming over shortly."

"Yeah, sure," she answered.

"Awesome." Burke turned to Aida. "Colonel, we'll be going now."

"Very well," he said before turning to Joanna. "I look forward to working with you."

"Okay," she said in a quiet voice.

"Shall we?" Burke said to the other two as Aida walked off. Joanna spent the train trip staring out the window, taking in the sight of both the cityscape and forest areas as they moved from one ring of the walled city to the other. In short order, the three arrived at Burke's apartment building.

"You've been assigned quarters on the floor below ours," Burke said as he dug out two key cards and handed one to each of them. "Here is your key card," he said to Joanna. "Both Shinji and I will have copies, but I can assure you we'll be gentlemen and only use them in a dire emergency."

"Fine, that's, uh, fine." Joanna's face gave away a slight blush. She looked towards Shinji for a brief second, and saw that he had some red on his cheeks as well.

"I have something to take care of at headquarters, so Shinji will escort you there, so you can get settled, okay?" Burke added.

"Okay."

"Great. See you soon." Burke then walked off, leaving the two."

"Shall we get going?" Shinji said to her. Joanna nodded and they began to make their way to the floor. Shinji used his key card to open the door and they entered the empty apartment. The two wandered around for a few minutes seeing where all the rooms were.

"I'm supposed to tell you that if you want to change any of the house wares or the bedsheets or anything else, you can buy them on Wille's account. I'll be the first to admit that your bedroom looks more like a hospital room."

"Okay, thanks," Joanna replied as she was looking into some empty kitchen cupboards. Silence descended in the room for a few moments until Shinji spoke again.

"You know, you're lucky that you get to have your own private quarters."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well…first off, you do know about me, right?" Joanna nodded.

"I've been briefed about you," she added.

"You know that I lived for a short time with Mi-, uh, the captain of the Wunder."

"And with Captain Shinkinami," she said.

"Well, things were a lot different for me," Shinji replied. "I mean, one moment I was just a normal kid, the next moment I'm fighting some giant creature, then waking up in a hospital room, and then moving in with some woman you had only met a few hours before whose place could not be considered tidy by any stretch of the imagination. So compared to me, you are pretty lucky." Joanna took a minute to go through everything he said in silence, before she spoke again.

"So, I guess that your time as a pilot was a lot more difficult?"

"You have no idea," Shinji replied. They said nothing for a couple of minutes as they looked around the apartment in a silence that Joanna found uncomfortable. It wasn't uncomfortable because she didn't want to talk to Shinji, but because she felt she had to say something, anything. Even though she was told the very basics of his story, and there were some details that they refused to elaborate on, she didn't know what to make of him. To her, he appeared to be a nice person, but at the same time, there seemed to be a sense of…the best word she could think of was hesitation, between him and her. It could be that they had only met a couple of hours earlier, but she sensed something else. It was as if he was feeling everything out, that he didn't know what he was doing. This was Shinji Ikari, a legend in some circles according to various some people. He had to know what he was doing. Then… was it something about her then? Before she could dwell on that particular thought line, Shinji spoke to her.

"Are you hungry?"

"Hungry?" Come to think of it, outside of a few snacks on the plane, she did not have a proper meal since she left Pacifica. "Maybe a little."

"Why don't you come up to our place and have a bite?" Shinji replied. "I'll make us something."

"Oh, uh, sure," she said tugging at her skirt.

"Oh, if you want to change your clothes, that'll be fine," Shinji blurted out. "I…wouldn't mind getting out of these clothes myself." That sentence was said in a much softer tone, lowering his head out of what seemed to be to her out of embarrassment.

"Sure, I'll do that," she said.

"Okay then. I'll head up and start preparing. Burke and I are living in 504. See you there." After giving a slight bow, Shinji headed out of the apartment. Joanna watched him leave and then went to bedroom where she flopped on her bed staring up at the ceiling, reviewing everything that happened trying to see where she could have been nicer, and finding several instances where thing could have gone better, taking several deep breaths to calm herself and set her mind to preparing for her next encounter with Shinji. She then changed into a tee shirt and a pair of old, but comfortable jeans she had in her day bag, and headed over to Shinji's apartment expecting nothing more than a few crude sandwiches. When Shinji opened the door, a wave of unique smells assaulted her nose. She took several strong sniffs as she entered the apartment.

"It smells good," she said. She had to admit to herself that she was now more hungry than she was earlier.

"I didn't know the when was the last time you ate, so I thought that you would like something a little heavier," Shinji said as he returned to chopping an onion. "So, I was thinking that perhaps some curry would sound good. I don't know if you ever had it before, so I'm not sure if I'm taking a risk here."

"I-I've had Indian food," she stated.

"Lucky me," he replied, the look of relief apparent to her. "Have a seat, please." She took a seat on a stool where she could have a clear view of Shinji as he was cooking. After he was done with the onions and put them in the pot, he proceeded to check on the rice.

"It should be done in a few minutes," he said as he put the lid back on the pot, and did a taste test of the curry.

"I-" Joanna began before stopping.

"Huh?" Shinji looked towards her.

"I…never knew you could cook," she said at last.

"I can understand that," he said. "Some old friends of mine couldn't believe it either until the had some lunch I made for them one time."

"Ah," she nodded. "That must have been a happy time for you." She then saw that Shinji was staring past her. She wondered if she had said anything wrong, though she didn't know what it could be.

"Much of it was," he replied, his voice sounding distant. "Though I don't know how much of it involved the penguin."

"Penguin?" Joanna tilted her head in confusion. Before she could inquire any further on what he meant, the two of them heard the apartment door open and Burke walked in. As soon as he closed the door, he took several strong sniffs.

"I smell food," he said.

"Shinji was making me lunch, Joanna answered. "It's almost ready."

"I didn't expect that, but then I guess it's good timing on my part," Burke said. "I've gained from Shinji's cooking an appreciation of good quality food."

"You've also gained around ten pounds," Shinji half-muttered as he rolled his eyes.

"What was that?" Burke asked as he was taking off his coat.

"Nothing, it's nothing," Shinji replied as he rushed over to the stove to take another quick taste. "It's ready now. Let's eat." Shinji took out three plates and scooped rice onto each of them, followed by the curry. He set two of the plates in front of both Burke and Joanna. She could tell from the aroma that it was delicious. She wanted to dig in, but wasn't sure if it was appropriate to do so. She didn't know what Japanese etiquette entailed. There was a saying that was uttered before eating, ike-something or other, yet the Vice Commander wasn't Japanese, so he didn't have to do that. Though out of the corner of her eye, she could see that he hadn't taken a bite either. She didn't know what to do, and her stomach was suffering for it.

"Don't worry, help yourself," Shinji told her. She took a spoon and filled it with equal amounts of rice and stew. She took a bite, and thought it as good as anything you can find at a restaurant, at least in her experience.

"Wow," she muttered.

"Amazing, huh?" Burke said to her. "I heard the stories of his abilities in the kitchen, but when I tried his cooking for the first time, I was floored."

"It's not that amazing," Shinji countered. "It was the only way that I could eat well without relying on junk food for every meal."

"Now, this is one thing you don't have to be modest about," Burke declared. You have an exquisite talent, not based on anything that was required of you by other people. I wouldn't be surprised if you opened your own restaurant someday." Joanna saw Shinji blush, but before anything else could be said about it, Burke's phone rang, which he had out before the first ring was completed.

"Yeah," he said into the phone. "So it has arrived." He turned his head towards Joanna, who stopped in the middle of taking a bite. "I'll tell her. She's in my apartment having lunch with us. Thanks." He returned his phone to his inside pocket, and turned to her.

"Your stuff has arrived," he told her. "They should be at your apartment door."

"Oh, yeah, great," she said. "I'm almost done, so I'll head over there in a few minutes."

"Take your time, they're not going anywhere," Burke replied. "And later today, Shinji can take you to the store to get some more food for your pantry, though I have a feeling that that you'll be up here for meals pretty often."

"Oh, no, no, no, no." She was shaking her head with each uttering of the word. "I can't impose on you like that."

"It's okay," Shinji said. "I wouldn't mind feeding you once in a while."

"M-Maybe, I'll see." She finished what was on her plate, and stood up to go.

"Oh, I'll help you," Shinji got up off his chair, and the two went out. For a couple of minutes, neither of them said a word before she spoke.

"Thank you for having me over." While it was a above a whisper, it couldn't be said to be at full volume either.

"Sure," Shinji replied, "and I do mean it when I said that I wouldn't mind cooking for you either."

"I couldn't ask you for that," she said. "That's too much. I can get my own food. It's not a problem."

"Then…how about I teach you how to make some dishes?" Shinji asked.

"Are you serious?" she answered. "I-It sounds like a lot of work."

"No more than the other things you'll be learning," he remarked. "And I'll be happy to teach you."

"Thanks," she said as they approached her door, which was half blocked by several boxes. Together, the two hauled the boxes into both her bedroom and bathroom.

"That should be it," Shinji said when he laid the last box on the bedroom floor. "I'll leave you to unpack and find a place for everything, and I'll come back in a little while to show you where the convenience store is."

"Uh, yeah," she said. As Shinji was heading for the door, she took a few steps towards him.

"Shinji," she called out.

"Yes?"

"T-Tomorrow, can…can we go shopping for other things?" You did say I could get new things if I wanted to."

"Sure," Shinji replied. "We can figure out a time later. See you tonight." After the door was closed, Joanna stood there for a minute contemplating all that had happened today before beginning to unpack her things. She soon realized after starting that it was going to take a while to get everything in order, perhaps even days once she got used to living. True, she couldn't call this place home right now, but she had a feeling that she was already half way there, though she couldn't put her finger on why that was.


	13. Chapter 13

Line by line, the computer screen drew out a green-colored wire-frame model of New Constantinople, with each line forming within seconds, all ten rings the skylines unique to each ring. When the model was complete, Lt. Matsu began to speak.

"This a basic layout of the city," he began. "Compared to what you had seen in Tokyo 3, it is a much more complicated defense system. You will need to learn all of the same things as Joanna in regards to Eva launch points, weapons caches, etc… Do you understand?"

"Yeah," Shinji replied.

"Good, let's begin with the power systems. This city has at its disposal," Matsu tapped a few keys, "forty fusion and N2 located several hundred meters below ground across the width of the city." The screen the showed forty yellow dots pop up on the map.

"How many of these power the city?" Shinji asked .

"When there is no emergency, two. One to power this base, and one to power this city."

"Then why so many reactors?"

"Well, aside from obvious things such having a backup in case the main reactor went down, these reactors are the main energy source for our defense systems when we have to go into battle. This system is composed of three primary features. The first is powering whatever Evas we have available, the second is for a shield system. It isn't as powerful a an AT Field, but it's pretty damn strong. As for the third-"

"That will have to wait until later," Aida said as he walked up to the two. "Joanna just arrived from school, and we need Shinji now."

"Then we'll pick up where we left off tomorrow, Matsu said.

"Thanks for what you told me," Shinji said.

"Until the next time." Matsu waved his hand in good bye. As Shinji and Aida made their way to elevator, Aida began to talk.

"How's it going so far?" he asked.

"I think it's going well," Shinji replied. "There's a lot to take in."

"Didn't you have to memorize a lot of stuff when you were a pilot?" Aida asked. Shinji nodded.

"But it's different this time. I never had to learn other things such as where all the missile batteries are and how many power reactors the city has. Back then, I just had to pilot. That was all."

"Well, because you are in a liaison position, you have to know both the stuff that the pilots need to know along with material usually reserved for those in higher command," Aida said as they entered the elevator. "It is meant for you to have access to the bigger picture. You get that?"

"I think so." The elevator opened and they walked down the corridor.

"Is this your first time down here?" Aida asked.

"Yeah, I didn't think that I would be allowed to come down here."

"From what I heard, it had to take some convincing by the Commander to the higher ups," Aida said. "I swear, some of them believe the tiniest thing involving you can set off an impact. The two approached a lift, and when they stepped on it, the lift began to descend at a forty-five degree angle.

"But in the end, they saw reason and allowed it," he continued. "I mean, it isn't as if you are going to pilot." The lift continued the descend to until it entered a large open space, and in that space they came upon two Evangelions secured in place next to each other. One of them was black with a purple trim on its arms and legs. It had a smooth head and both its eyes and jaw gave it a menacing appearance. Yet, what caught Shinji's attention was the unit's hands, but could he even call them hands? At the end of each arm were claws, three of them that came together at their tips. Seeing them made him wonder what this Eva was for? The second one a very dark green with a yellow trim. There were no eyes for it as there was only a visor, its head adorned with a headpiece that sloped to to the back of its head tapering at a point.

"Well, here they are," Aida says as the lift settled onto the floor and the two got off. "This one," he pointed to the black Eva, "is Unit 10 and this one," now pointing at the green Eva, "is Unit 11. That is the unit Joanna will be piloting."

"Don't we have a pilot for Unit 10?" Shinji asked.

"I don't think so," Aida replied. "There's supposed to be some sort of problem with that Unit."

"That problem is that Unit 10 is an experimental Eva that we can't get to work the way it was designed to." The two turned around to find Hood and Lt. Bertain walking towards them. "The biggest problem is that we can't get it to sync well to a pilot. We hope we can figure it out, but it could take a while. So, no pilot for the moment."

"Well that sucks," Aida remarked. As the two continued to talk, Shinji noticed that Joanna was in the chamber as well looking up a the Evas. He walked over to where she was, and joined her in looking up.

"Is this the first time you've seen them in person?" He asked after a minute of looking in silence.

"Yeah." Her eyes never left them.

"Better than my first time," he remarked. "I had to go into a dark room, and when the light was turned on, the face was right there looking at me Not the best way to get introduced."

"I—I can understand that," she said.

"But the weird thing about them is that they can seem completely normal at the same time," he added. "I mean, some days, you can look at them like you're looking at them now, and other days, you could look at them and think nothing of them, like they're pieces of furniture or something, at least that is how it feels to me."

"I don't think I can get used to them," Joanna said. By this time, both Aida and Hood had joined them.

"I'll be giving you both schematics of Unit 11 for your study. Now, we're going to begin with a synchronization test. Joanna," Aida gestured to Lt. Bertain, "She will escort you to the changing room so you can get into your plug suit. Shinji, you will need to follow Dr. Hood."

"Shinji, do you know if Joanna is ready?" Hood asked after fifteen minutes of waiting.

"She is still in the changing room," Shinji replied," so I don't dare go in there-" Joanna stepped into the testing room wearing a silver colored plug suit with blue trim.

"I'm…I'm here," she said, using her arms to cover her chest. Shinji took a good look at her in it, and while she did not compare to some of the other girls who have worn a plug suit, he had to admit that her figure was impressive in its own right.

"Okay Joanna, head over to the test plug and we'll begin the sync test," Hood said.

"Sure," Joanna replied as she went to where the plug is. Shinji went over and stood by Hood, taking notice of the main monitor, where he saw her getting settled inside the plug, along with several other monitors showing her vitals and several other sets of data.

"She's secured," Bertain said to Hood.

"Okay Joanna, we're going to flood the plug with LCL," Hood told her. Joanna responded by making a noise that conveyed disgust.

"It makes me want to throw up," she added. I gag every time I have to take it in…and it hurts when I gag."

"Damn it," Hood muttered to himself. Shinji then leaned forward so he could speak into the microphone.

"Try taking it through your nose."

"My nose?" she said.

"That's right. Shinji replied. "When the LCL comes up over your nose, take several sharp breathes in, like you're smelling something good, before you exhale. Doing that made things a lot easier for me."

"I'll…I'll try it," she said. Hood signaled for Bertain to to begin. They saw the liquid fill the plug, and when it subsumed her she did as Shinji told her to do. When they saw her exhale, Hood spoke to her again.

"How do you feel?"

"I still feel a little nauseous, but it is not as bad as it was before."

"Okay then. Stand by, and we'll start the in a minute or two. Hood switched off the microphone and turned to Shinji.

"That little trick. Did Akagi or someone else teach you that, or was it something you figured out yourself?" he asked.

"Something I figured out," Shinji answered. "It took me a while, but I got the hang of it."

"Interesting," Hood stated. "Your presence here is already giving us dividends."

"Oh, uh, thank you," Shinji replied.

"There is a gaseous form of LCL that can be used, which would be easier on her. In fact, it's used on the bridge of the Wunder when they go into combat. However, it doesn't provide as high of a synchronization as the liquid form plus the fact that the liquid can act a shock absorber during battle."

"I see," Shinji said. Hood then spoke into the microphone.

"Okay Joanna, we're about to begin the sync test. Now, I need you to relax and concentrate on syncing. Understand?"

"Yes." Joanna closed her eyes, and appeared to Shinji to be assuming a stature that he was more than familiar with. Looking back on his memories, he found these tests boring, and knew Asuka thought the same from how much she complained about them afterward. He then wondered if Rei ever thought the same as well, but was interrupted from his musings as a small alarm sounded. He could see on the monitors that Joanna's heart rate and blood pressure were beginning to rise and there was some disturbance in her brain waves, though he couldn't tell looking at them what was the matter.

"Joanna, you need to relax and focus on syncing," Hood said. "Now, try it again.

"Sure," she replied. Three minutes later, the exact same readings reappeared.

"What's happening?" Shinji asked.

"I don't know if you noticed, but Joanna can be a rather nervous person," Hood answered. "The problem is that her nervousness is preventing us from getting an accurate sync ratio. I don't believe she has a full blown disorder, but it is causing problems. And it's not a good idea either to give her medication either. That can mess with her sync just as easily."

"Is there anything I can do?" Shinji asked.

"I don't know what you can do," Hood said in an exasperated tone. "She needs to be able to remain calm for the time we need to test her." Shinji took a brief look at her, and then went to the microphone.

"Can you tell me what is wrong?" he asked Joanna.

"It's just…I don't know. I have these thoughts that go through my mind very fast. Some of them are good or I might have a good idea that I like to keep spinning around in my head. But sometimes, there is a bad thought going through and I keep going over it again and again."

"Were you having those kind of thoughts now?" Hood asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "I was trying to concentrate, but then I began to get worried that I won't be able to concentrate, so I tried harder, but that thought kept coming around and no matter what I try, I'm just not able to concentrate." She sunk in the plug seat, her head down.

"Shit…" Hood murmured to himself. Shinji spoke into the microphone again.

"Is there anything we can do to help you?" Joanna looked up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I don't know," she said. "I mean if I knew that someone else were with me, it might be easier. I don't know why, it just feels that way." Both Hood and Shinji looked at her through the screen. Hood then turned to Shinji.

"Shinji, would you be able to complete the test with her?"

"Me? What do you mean?" he half jumped out of his chair.

"What I said. Could you go take a sync test with her?"

"In the same plug?" Shinji asked.

"No, that will muddle the readings," Hood replied. "I mean get in the test plug right next to her."

"But wouldn't there be trouble if I-" Shinji didn't finish, but Hood understood his point.

"The system only measures your sync rate. You're not connected to any Eva," he said. "If we went by your logic, you would have started an impact by bumping your head or tripping over something."

"Okay then," Shinji said. "Is there a plug suit that I can use?"

"Unfortunately no," Hood replied, "but, we don't want to ruin your clothes either. You'll have to strip down to your underclothes. We do have a pair of neural clips that you can use. Head on over there."

"Sure," Shinji replied. Hood then turned to the microphone.

"Joanna, we're going to have Shinji be in the test plug next to you. Will that be all right?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," she answered. Shinji made his way to the plug, and proceeded to take off his Wille jacket and the slacks, shirt, and tie he wore as part of his school uniform; leaving him in his underwear and undershirt. Attaching the neural clips to his head, he got in the plug. A few seconds after it closed, he was submerged in LCL.

"Okay," he heard Hood over the com system. "Shinji, you know what to do. Joanna, keep in mind of what Shinji is doing. Please relax and concentrate, okay?"

"Sure," her voice came over the com.

"I'll open a direct channel between the two plugs, so you can see and talk to each other." A screen came to life on the plug's walls, which gave him a view of Joanna's profile.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she said, her voice sounding tired.

"All right, we're beginning the test," Hood said. Shinji began to concentrate, but at the same time, keeping one eye on Joanna. She appeared to be doing all right this time. Maybe just the fact that he was doing the test as well was enough to calm her down. He then saw her scrunch up her face a little.

"Just take it easy," he said to her. Her face relaxed and the test continued.

"It's working," Bertain said to Hood. We're getting stable readings from her."

"Excellent," Hood replied. What about Shinji?"

"We are getting readings, but they're not as clear. It's probably because he's focusing more on keeping her calm than on syncing."

"That would make sense considering no one is expecting him to pilot." Hood paced around the control room for a few minutes before he spoke again.

"Let's try a little experiment. Begin lowering the plug depth on Shinji."

"…All right." Bertain flipped a few switches and the readings began showing a descending plug depth. "How far do we lower it?"

"As far as it can go." The two saw Shinji through the monitor. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

"It's already slid into the equivalent of absolute depth stage and it would be approaching terminal at this point."

"Keep it sliding," was all Hood said. The scale kept descending. His brain waves, the only thing they were able to monitor, was showing no abnormalities.

"Sir, we would approaching the Great Beyond," On the monitor, the two could see Shinji wince a little bit, and his face scrunch up.

"Stop," Hood ordered. A few switches were pushed, and the test stopped. "Can we get a preliminary analysis?

"Give the computer a few seconds," Bertain tapped a few keys, and the results came on one of the monitors. Both sets of eyes widened at the results given.

"Sir, am I looking at this—"

"Everything you see here is classified top secret. I'll complete further analysis myself and will directly report this to the Commander. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Bertain replied, still shaken.

"Do we have what we need from Joanna?"

"We do sir," Bertain tapped a few more keys. "A 36% sync rate. Not too bad."

"Good." Hood went to the microphone. "Okay, both of you can come out. We got what we need."

Shinji stepped out of the men's changing room wearing a pair of sweatpants and a sweat shirt with the Wille logo emblazoned on it. Five minutes later, Joanna came out of the ladies changing room back in her normal clothes.

"Thank you for helping me," she said to him.

"No problem," Shinji replied. "I know you have some medical tests in a little while, which means you're free for the next hour or so. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know," Joanna said. "What is there to do?"

"I'm not sure," he answered. "To be honest, I don't really have a good idea what is in this building. Do…you want to go look around?"

"Okay," she said as the two began walking. Their journey for the most part consisted of either places that held no interest to them or had signs saying 'Restricted Access' or 'Authorized Personal Only.' In short order, they found the recreation area. The two looked around the place taking in the large TV and the various pinball and arcade games that were around as well as the people who were enjoying them.

"This is pretty interesting, huh?" When she didn't answer, Shinji turned to see her face encompassed by pure joy, her eyes shinning bright, her mouth in a huge smile. He had seen her smile before, but it was nothing compared to what he was seeing. She looked happy for lack of a better word.

"What's going on?" he asked. "What are you looking at?" Joanna responded with a mild squeeing sound as she ran over to a pool table, feeling the smoothness of the wood that covered the edge. Shinji approached the table with a look of amusement on his face.

"Pool huh?" he said.

"I know. This table looks fantastic," she replied. "Hey, the balls are already racked." She grabbed a nearby cue and took the triangle rack off the table.

"Do you know how to play?" Shinji asked.

"Uh, huh." Joanna set the cue ball, took aim with the cue, and struck it, sending the ball into the others, knocking them all around the table. She then took aim at the seven ball and knocked it into a side pocket. Joanna proceeded to stalk around the table looking for more shots.

"At the facility where I was first training, it was in the middle of nowhere, so there wasn't really much to do," she said as she sunk another ball, "but there was a pool table for everyone there to enjoy. Whenever there was free time, people would teach me the basics of the game and how to do particular shots." Ten ball in the corner pocket. "Some of the stuff was difficult at first, but I soon got the hang of it." Four ball in the side. "I even watched on-line videos and learned how to some specialty and trick shots."

"What kind of shots?" Shinji was amazed that she was so confident in herself at this moment where a couple of hours before, she was in tears. Does playing and talking about this help her do that?

"Hmm…let's see, oh, how about this?" With the cue, she pointed at the two balls that were almost touching each other right next to a corner pocket. "Let's say that I have to put this one in the pocket," she pointed to the inside ball. "However," she grabbed the cue ball and the six ball, which she set against the rail a short distance from the first two followed by setting the cue ball an equal distance from it. "This ball is in the way," she pointed at the six ball.

"If you have to make the shot from there, it's impossible." Shinji said.

"Not so," she replied, a little smirk forming on her face. She aimed the cue on the white ball and fired. The cue ball curved around the obstructing ball and struck the one she intended, putting it in the pocket. Joanna looked up thinking he would say something, but discovered that the sight of him with his mouth open said just as much.

"Do you want to see something else?" Shinji closed his mouth and nodded yes. She reset some of the balls.

"Let's say that you need to sink the ball here." She pointed at the eight ball, which had several balls between it and where she placed the cue ball. "That last trick I showed you could work, but you can also do this." She aimed the cue, except that this time, she raised the back end higher than she had on her previous shots. She struck the cue ball, and instead of of rolling, the ball jumped into the air and landed across the table, where it rolled and struck the eight ball rolling into a side pocket. Two seconds later, she heard hands clapping, but it sounded to her like it was from more than one person. She looked up and saw that the people she saw earlier in the room doing their own things had gathered around the table clapping their hands with some of them even giving an occasional whistle. She blushed and cast her eyes down to the floor.

"That was freaking badass," a guy in the crowd, who was standing next to Shinji, told her.

"It…it was nothing," she replied. Shinji couldn't say if her demeanor should be considered her old self or not. "I didn't do anything really spectacular." Her voice became really soft.

"What's with all the modesty?" the guy said before he turned to Shinji. "She just did a jump shot. Now, a lot of people have done jump shots as well, but those people use a cue specially designed to make those kind of shots. She used a regular cue to make that shot."

"I see," Shinji said.

"Believe me, when she gets old enough to go to a bar, she'll never have to pay for her own drink," the guy added.

"Okay…" Shinji noticed that Joanna was trembling a little bit. "Look, she and I have to get going," he said as he grabbed her arm and they begin to make their way out of the room.

"Come back anytime guys," a woman in the crowd yelled.

"Yeah, sure. Bye." Shinji said very fast as they continued on their way. The two walked down the corridor for about a minute before they stopped.

"Are you all right?" Shinji let go of her hand.

"I'm fine," she breathed, grabbing her hand that he was holding and rubbing it. "Thank you," she then said in a more normal voice. "I'll be okay. It's just that…all those people were looking at me…and I know that it wasn't because I did something wrong, but…just having them all looking at me like that, it freaks me out. I did nothing embarrassing, and yet I feel embarrassed. I don't get it."

"Well, you didn't do anything wrong," Shinji said. "But I think that you shouldn't be afraid to go back there."

"I know," she said. "But something like that feels scary to me."

"You're training to pilot an Eva against giant monstrosities, and yet you're afraid of playing pool in front of people? That really shouldn't be something you run…" Shinji stopped talking for a moment before chuckling to himself.

"Uh, is something wrong?" Joanna asked.

"No, it's nothing," Shinji replied. "I was just seeing the irony in the words I was saying to you. You wouldn't understand though."

"Okay…" Joanna tilted her head a little, trying to take in his confusing statement.

"It's just that I…don't want you make some of the same mistakes like I have or to deny yourself what is good in the world," Shinji continued. "I can't tell you that you have to go back, I don't have the right to. But keep in mind that those people who were watching you make those shots were impressed, and they would like to see you again, maybe even play a game with you. I don't think that's a bad thing." Joanna stood for a minute taking it all in before she spoke.

"I'll…I'll see."

"That'll work," Shinji said. "Now, I don't think we have too much time before those test, so we should get going."

"Right." As they were walking down the corridor, an idea came into his mind.

"I was thinking," he said. "Maybe the next time you have a sync test, perhaps you could think about playing pool as your syncing. It might help."

"You think so?" she said. "I'll try it." She put her arm over his shoulder. Shinji flinched a little, but he relaxed and they continued on their way.

Hood walked into Kaji's office as both him and Burke were looking over paperwork.

"What's up?" Kaji asked.

"Well, we completed Joanna'a sync test," Hood replied. "They look pretty good. She'll have no problem syncing with Unit 11."

"I'm going to assume that particular piece of news is not the reason that you came up to see us," Kaji said.

"Right. You see, she was having difficulty at first performing the test, so Shinji agreed to take the test with her to calm her down. It worked." Both Kaji and Burke turned their heads towards him.

"You did take advantage of that situation?" Kaji asked.

"You're damn right I did. See for yourself," Hood replied as he laid a copy of the report on the desk. Kaji began to read it while Burke went to the other side of the desk to look over his shoulder.

"Son of a…" Burke began before he trailed off.

"Is this accurate?" Kaji asked.

"I had our computers run through the data several times, and they came to the same result, so I can assure you that it is."

"I still can't believe it," Burke declared as he returned to his seat. "Shinji can sync with any Eva without the need for a core swap."

"You know this raises an interesting question," Kaji said to Hood.

"Why did he get a zero percent sync rate with Unit 01?" Hood answered. "There are two good possibilities that I can think of off the top of my head. The first is that Unit 01's control system is actively refusing to let him sync. It is possible given the system's nature."

"And the second?" Kaji asked.

"That Akagi straight out lied to him."

"And by extension, us," Kaji added.

"After that stunt she pulled with Shinji a few months ago, I wouldn't put it past her," Burke said.

"I'm going to do some more detailed analysis with the data we have and the data that was given to us by the Wunder, see if something shows up," Hood said.

"It would be better the access the Wunder's systems directly the next time they come into port," Kaji stated.

"Does…that mean when they do…if it becomes necessary…to secure…" Hood didn't finish his question. Kaji could see that Burke shifted his eyes towards him.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," Kaji said.

"Very well," Hood replied. "If you excuse me." After the scientist had left the room, Burke turned to his superior.

"What are we going to do with this info?" he asked him.

"Officially, nothing." Kaji replied. "Technically, still nothing. He's no longer a pilot, nor are there active plans to make him one again. This info only confirms theories about him that we've had for a long time."

"Yes, but doesn't that he could-" Burke began.

"Yes, but it was always meant to be a backup plan. Let him be a kid for now…at least until the shit starts hitting the fan."

"So, how was your first full day on the job?" Asuka was in a pair of ripped jeans and a tee shirt, appearing to be comfortable where she was sitting, though the screen could only show so much of her quarters.

"It went better than I expected," Shinji replied. "I'm still getting used to the whole liaison thing. I…really hope I can do a good job here. I don't want to fail her."

"You can't think like that," Asuka declared. "You can only do what you can on that particular day. Jeez, there are some days where I miss witnessing your idiocy, but then I see it and wonder what was I thinking."

"Okay, okay, I'll do better next time," Shinji replied stifling a chuckle. Asuka looked at him for a few seconds before a thin smile formed on her face.

"What's she like?" She rested her chin on her elbow.

"Joanna is a nice person," Shinji said. "You would like her. She gets nervous a lot and has trouble talking to people sometimes, but I'm learning more about her every day, including some amazing things."

"So…she's kinda like you," Asuka leaned back in her chair. "I can't wait to meet her."

"You really think so?" Shinji decided to ignore the sarcasm. "I don't see how." Asuka was about the answer when Shinji heard a noise, like a door opening and closing, from Asuka's side of the screen. She noticed it too as her eye shifted to the source off screen and narrowing a little.

"Who are you talking to?" an off screen voice said. It was Mari.

"No one important. What's it to you?"

"Then it has to be our dear Shinji," Mari declared.

"Hey Mari," Shinji spoke up.

"Hey there," she said while remaining off screen. "Could I speak to him for a few minutes?" She asked Asuka.

"Hell no," she replied.

"Why? Do you want him all to yourself?" Mari countered.

"No." Her face began to blush. "You just came out of the shower. You're wearing nothing but a towel right now." Shinji's face began to blush as well.

"Well why didn't you say so?" Mari said. In less than a second, Shinji saw a towel land right over Asuka's head. "There that should be be better," she added while still off screen. "Well Shinji, do you want to talk to me?" Asuka whipped the towel off her head, and while the scowl on her face was not directed at him, Shinji could still feel it tearing through him. She came close to the screen while at the same time fighting off a bare arm that came into his line of sight.

"Talk to you later, okay? Bye." Asuka said fast before shifting her gaze from him. "Now you di-" The screen went off and Shinji laid down on his bed, trying to get some sleep. For a while though, he broke into fit of chuckling of not straight out laughter for a good while before he drifted off.


	14. Chapter 14

"Joanna, are you ready?" Hood asked.

"Yes," she replied through the com system. Her face could not be seen except on a few select monitors. Instead, the face of Unit 11 stared at the group in the control room.

"Okay," Hood replied. "Begin the operation." Shinji could see the control room come to life as the operators and technicians began their work.

"Connecting power to all main circuits," one technician said.

"Main power supply connected, another replied. "Commencing activation system."

"Activation voltage at critical level," he heard Bertain say. "0.5, 0.3, 0.2, and rising."

"Beginning second phase, transmitting pulse."

"Pilot has begun linkup."

"Synapses inserted. Junctions connecting."

"All circuits operational. No problems with initial contact."

"All nerve links checking out normal. Checklist is cleared through 2600. Prepare for third stage connection." Shinji could feel himself tightening up, and he sensed that the others were the same way. According to the private briefing Hood gave him, this moment was the most critical point of the activation test, where many things could go wrong. He then remembered hearing that Rei had such an incident with Unit 00.

Counting down to absolute borderline. 0.5, 0.2…" There was a brief, tense pause. "Borderline cleared. Unit 11 is activated." The energy that had been building up was released by cheers and clapping. Shinji let out all the air that he had been holding in as the test continued.

"All right," Hood said. "Good job everyone. Now, let's get started on the interlock test."

A short while later, Shinji was sitting on a bench waiting for Joanna to finish changing. As he was waiting, both Burke and Aida came over to him.

"Waiting for her?" Aida asked, to which Shinji nodded.

"What do we do next?" he added.

"Nothing. You two are done for the day," Burke answered. "So, you guys are free to do whatever you want."

"Oh, okay," Shinji said.

"Actually…" Aida piped up. "…there is something where I would like to have Shinji join me."

"I thought we had cleared everything on the agenda." Burke began looking at his tablet, trying to bring up the schedule.

"No, I don't mean anything to do with Joanna's training," Aida said. "I was just wondering if Shinji would come with me to have dinner a friend's place."

"Who is this friend?" Shinji asked.

"Uh…let's just say that it's a surprise. I will add, however, that this person knows your story well, and I feel it would be wonderful if the two of you could meet. It will also be a surprise to this person as well. Besides, you have to admit that it's been more than a little while since we last seriously talked. What do you say?" Shinji looked in Burke's direction.

"It's your call," Burke stated.

"I would like to go," Shinji answered, but what about Joanna?"

"Huh?"

"They've been making it a habit of going to our place to eat after training sessions," Burke answered for him, "but I'm certain that she'll-" all of them heard the sound of a door opening a closing. "Speak of the devil." Joanna stood in front of the changing room door, realizing they were talking about her.

"Wh-What's going on?" she asked.

"Nothing bad Jo," Burke answered. "We were discussing about something Aida wanted to do tonight with Shinji. I know that you two usually eat afterwords, but I would be willing to take you out to restaurant, to celebrate your successful activation test. What do you say?" She shifted her eyes toward Shinji.

"Don't worry," he told her. "It's just one time. And we can do it tomorrow since there is no training. How about breakfast? That's something we haven't done before." Joanna took a minute to think it over.

"That would be okay," she said.

"Great," Aida said. "Shinji we'll meet in front of HQ in let's say…" he checked his watch, "half an hour or so. Will that work?"

"Sure," Shinji replied.

"Okay, see you then." As Aida walked off, Shinji turned to Joanna.

"Are you sure it's okay?" he asked her.

"O-Of course it is," she said. "I-I mean, you have a life of your own, and people you want to see, and I've been told about your history with Colonel Aida. Besides, the Vice-Commander is a nice person."

"Thank you," Burke said, not looking up from his tablet, "not that I've been eavesdropping."

"I see," Shinji said.

"Besides, if those things didn't happen, I'd be on the phone half the night with my friends."

"Your friends?" Shinji looked and acted surprised.

"Yeah, there are some nice people at my school," she replied. "I'm…I'm not comfortable hanging out with them, you know, going shopping or anything like that, not yet, but talking over the phone and video chat works for me."

"That's good. That's really good," Shinji said, a smile forming on his face."

"And you can tell me more about it during dinner," Burke declared. "Better get going, you don't want to keep Aida waiting," he called back as the two walked off.

"You can't be serious," Shinji said as he and Aida walked in an apartment building and up a set of stairs. "They played that song right through the whole battle?"

"Sure did," Aida replied. "You see, because radio silence had to be maintained, the whole operation had to run on a silent count. Katsuragi figured that a song would be the best way to keep everyone on the same page. And of all songs, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was one of the best choices. Not only is it a song that a majority of people know about, at least indirectly, but also because the song has several sections of different musical styles. It is that, along with having no chorus, that gave it a unique structure making the song easy to organize the whole operation around. For example, you could have a certain part of the operation began or completed by a particular line or piece of music. And since the song was being broadcast on almost every radio frequency in the world, not only we we able to bypass any attempts at jamming from Nerv, anyone from all over the world involved in the operation could listen to the song and know their part, while everyone else was listening to an awesome song."

"Amazing," Shinji said. "I can't believe it worked."

"Sometimes, I think that way too when I look back on it. Many people who were involved say they considered it the most amazing thing they has ever seen. I don't know if this is true, but supposedly afterwords, they were playing 'We Are the Champions' within range of Nerv."

"Wow," was all Shinji could say as the two stopped in front of a door. "Is this the place?" he asked Aida, who answered by signaling for Shinji to get behind him as he rang the door buzzer. After a minute, the door opened, and Shinji couldn't see who it was, but he could tell from the voice that it was a woman, that he swore sounded familiar. He was racking his brain trying to remember where he heard it before.

"Oh, you're here. Come in," the woman said.

"How have you been?" he asked her.

"Oh fine, fine," she answered. "I was just in the middle of doing some laundry. Dinner is in the oven, and it'll be…is there someone behind you?"

"I'd like to introduce you to someone," Aida stated as he stepped to the side.

"I didn't know you were bringing a guest. You should have…" Shinji saw that her hair was placed in one ponytail instead of the twin tails he remembered. She was taller then she was the last time he saw her, and just a little thicker in the middle. The one thing that stayed the same was her freckled face, which at that moment, was expressing complete shock. She was wearing a plain tee shirt and sweatpants, and the laundry basket she was holding fell to the floor.

"It's you…" she said in a soft voice. Shinji and the woman, whose eyes were beginning to fill with tears, looked at each other for several seconds before Hikari rushed towards him, and wrap her arms around him. Shinji didn't know how long they remained in that embrace, only that it was long enough so that a young boy who was holding a toy plane ran around them making pewpew noises before stopping to look upon the scene. She then let go of him and straightened herself.

"I knew that you had been back for a while now," she said as she wiped the remaining tears from her eyes, "but I didn't expect that I would be able to see you again."

"I never expected to see you either," Shinji replied. Hikari then noticed the boy looking at scene.

"Come here," she said to him. The boy came over and gave her a hug. She turned the boy to where Shinji was standing. "There's someone I want to you to meet. He's an old friend of mine. Go say hello." The boy took a few steps towards Shinji and stopped.

"Hello," they boy said, "I'm Ichiro Suzahara." The boy then ran back to his mother, and buried his face into her shoulder.

"That wasn't so bad," she cooed as she patted his back. Shinji watched her holding the child, amazed that she was now a mother. It also made him a little sad, though he didn't know why.

"Come in. Come on in," she told them as she picked up her laundry off the floor. As they were walking in, Shinji took notice of the pictures on the wall. There were pictures of members of class 2A along with those of Hikari with people he did not know. Of those pictures, two stood out for him. One was of Hikari and Toji in what appears to be a wedding photo, and one of Hikari and Sakura with a slightly younger Ichiro at what looked like an amusement park.

"As I was trying to say earlier, dinner will be ready in a short while, so please make yourself comfortable," she said. "Just let me deal with this first, and I'll join you pretty quick, okay?"

"Sure thing," Aida replied. "Take care of what you need to." Hikari went off humming to herself, Ichiro following her, leaving Shinji and Aida alone.

"Bet you were surprised, huh?" Aida leaned towards him.

"You have no idea," Shinji replied. "To be honest, I haven't thought about her for a long time." He couldn't lie, he was surprised. He didn't know she was still alive, and if that was the case, could it be that he still was as well? That thought made him nervous and excited at the same time.

"I wanted you to meet her for a good while now," Aida stated. "You know, to show you that everything wasn't all bad."

"Thanks, I really mean it."

"Sure thing," Aida said. Hikari and her son returned to the living room and sat down next to Shinji.

"So," she began, "Aida told me that you work at the Wille base?"

"Yes and no," Shinji replied. "I work as a liaison officer. I help the new pilot with the ins and outs of piloting an Eva."

"Sounds pretty hard," She said to him.

"It is. For example all of the names for everything and the acronyms. Just to give you one," he turned to Aida. "I keep forgetting what the official name of Headquarters is. I know it's the Tower of Something, but it sounded weird." Aida chuckled in response.

The Tower of Belisarius," he said. "It's named after an original tower in the first Constantinople that was in turn named after a great general. It's also hard to pronounce. Most of us call the place either the Tower or just Headquarters."

"That's pretty interesting. I didn't know that," Hikari said, her son leaning against her.

"You…you have a nice child," Shinji said, blushing.

"He sure is," she said tussling the boy's hair. "I'm sure that before today, you still saw me as your class representative and wearing twin tails." She chuckled. "I'm proud of him…and I'm sure his father would have been proud of him as well."

"Would have? I don't know what you mean." Shinji saw her look at Aida with a look of confusion and something else, like sadness. He shifted his eyes towards Aida and was surprised that his usual cheery self had faded, and he was looking down at the carpet, the color drained from his face.

"Toji had a job as a floor manager at a manufacturing plant." Hikari stood up and and walked over to a part of the wall covered by a curtain. "One day, a major fire broke out on the floor, and the fire suppression systems failed." She opened the curtain to reveal a small alter that had Toji's picture surrounded by a black ribbon. "I was told later that he kept going back to find his employees and bring them out to safety. He rescued around twenty people…he went in to find some more, and never came out." She lit two sticks of incense, and laid them in a tray, their perfumed smoke drifting to the ceiling. "I do miss him terribly, but I am grateful for the years that we did have." She stood up and turned around to find Shinji with tears, trembling in short shudders. Hikari went to him and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered.

"It's okay," she said. "Toji always talked about you and the other pilots, and about how brave all of you were fighting the Angels. I like to think that you were an inspiration to him to do what he did that day. I know he would have been glad to see you again, and to talk of old times." Her reassurance only made his tears flow even more. She pulled him into another hug and even Ichiro came over and wrapped his arms around one of Shinji's legs. They were that way for a minute or so before they let go.

"This is all my fault," Aida said. "It never crossed my mind to tell you and I should have known it would come up one way for the other. I even figured the Commander or Vice-Commander had told you months ago. Man, did I screw up."

"It's all right," Shinji said. "When I first came out of Unit 01, I thought that there was a lot less of the world than there is. I have been so happy that thing's aren't as bad as I thought, but I couldn't assume that it was all going to go my way."

"In any event then," Hikari gestured towards the altar. "Shall we?" The three former schoolmates all stood abreast of each other, folded their hands and stood in reverential silence for about a minute, Ichiro following suit right next to his mother. Hikari broke the silence, a few tears forming in her eyes.

"I'll go get the rest of dinner ready," she said as she wiped a few tears away, before turning to her son. "Honey, stay here, and play with Kensuke, okay?" The boy nodded.

"All right buddy," Aida said to the child, as she went off. "Could you show me that plane you were playing with earlier?" Ichiro ran to pick up his plane and hand it to him.

"Ooh, pretty cool," Aida said as he looked at the plane. He gave the child back his toy, and as Ichiro started to play with it, he turned to Shinji.

"I have to say it again. I'm so sorry for not telling you about Toji earlier."

"Don't worry about it," Shinji said. "I mean, "I'm sad that I never had the chance to say goodbye."

"None of us had the chance when you think about it," Aida replied.

"True, but my point is there are a lot of people, both alive and dead, that I wish to talk to again. But I feel, at least for the ones who are still alive, that can't happen now. Too much time has past, so much has happened."

"I…don't think you're right," Aida stated, his face betraying sympathy. "There's me, there's Hikari. It may not be like when we were in school, but we're still here, and we're still your friends. There's even Shikinami. I'm sure you need to talk to us, you can.

"I know, but sometimes, it doesn't feel that way." The two sat in silence for a few minutes until Hikari announced that dinner was ready.

"Are you sure that he won't be a bother to you?" Hikari asked.

"No, it's okay," Shinji replied holding Ichiro. "I'm used to it."

"Shinji has been working at the daycare center on base," Aida said, holding a cup of after dinner coffee. "He's used to small children."

"I see," Hikari said, looking impressed. "Maybe I could have him babysit some days when Sakura is not here." At hearing her name, Ichiro began to squirm.

"I want to see Auntie," he said.

"I do too honey, but we have to wait until she comes back," Hikari stated. The boy got off Shinji's lap and ran over to his mother, laying his head on her lap.

"He's getting tired," she said. "Perhaps we should call it a night."

"Yeah, Shinji has school tomorrow and I have morning duty, so it's probably a good idea," Aida concurred, draining his cup. The three got up and headed towards the door.

"It was nice of you to have me," Shinji said.

"Well, it was a pleasure to have you," Hikari replied. "I hope to see you again real soon." When she closed the door, the two began to make their way out of the building.

"So…" Shinji began, trying to find the right words. "You have been visiting them often?"

"Ever since Toji died," he said. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it seemed to me that you and Hikari seem to have some…what's the word I'm looking for?"

"Rapport?"

"Maybe," he said. "You two definitely have something, at least."

"Well, Toji was my best friend," Aida stated. "I felt that it was only right that I should look after her and her son, help them with whatever they need."

"I see," Shinji said. "So you do care for her?"

"Of course," Aida replied. "It's more than just obligation. Over the years as I've gotten to know her better, I've started to care about her in her own right." Shinji stopped walking and looked at him.

"Is that the same as being in love?" This time Aida stopped in his tracks.

"I…don't know," he answered. "You know, I found out over the years that love is a very complex thing, nothing like the movies. I…really need to think about these things." He said those final words more to himself than to Shinji. The two continued their walk until Aida said they had to separate here for him to get to his place. When he split off, Shinji continued to walk, but also took out his phone.

"It's me," he said into it. "We're all done, but it might be a while before I come back.

"Why?" he heard Burke say through the speakers. "Are you going delinquent on me?" He half-joked.

"No," he replied stifling a chuckle. "I didn't eat much and I'm still a little hungry. I thought I would get some ice cream, if there's a place that is still open."

"That's okay," Burke said. "Just be back home in the next hour or so."

"Sure thing," Shinji told him before he hung up. He took a train to the third ring, and found that the place was within fifteen minutes of closing. After getting his cone, Shinji walked along the sidewalks, looking through the shop windows, and taking notice of the people who walked past him: an elderly gentleman out for a stroll, couples to took no notice of anything else except each other, even other kids his own age, whether they were alone or in groups. More than once, he saw girls giving him a wave or even winking at him, which made him blush. There was something about the atmosphere, he couldn't tell what it was, that seemed to make him serene, even content with his life at that moment. He finished his ice cream, and seeing the time, made his way to the station to take him home.


	15. Chapter 15

Throwing plumes of blood-colored dust into the air, Unit 11 ran along a prearranged path which took it over man-made hills and gullies created for the exercise. A thin beam of light coming from a rotating pillar on the top of the city wall stuck a point at the back of the Eva, providing it with power, keeping up with the Unit as it moved around. Several projectiles then began landing around the Unit, forcing the Eva to dodge the explosions. Seconds after clearing them, a series of walls, each wall a different height, shot out of the ground. Unit 11 began to jump over them, leaping hundreds of feet in the air, and making perfect landings with each jump. A large container then landed near it, and opened up revealing a pallet rifle. The Eva grabbed the rifle without slowing down or stopping. Before it, several targets began to pop out of the ground, staying up for various rates of time, and going back down before popping up again a few seconds later, starting the process over again. Unit 11 stopped, took aim, and began to fire, taking out several targets, though she missed a couple of the faster moving ones.

"Spectacular," Hood was looking at the exercise through a pair of binoculars. Shinji and Aida had their own binoculars and watching it. She's doing good on speed, but it appears she needs work on her shooting. With improvement, there's a chance she could beat Shinkinami's best."

"She is looking pretty good," Aida stated. "I would think that she is more than ready to take on whatever comes our way." Shinji didn't say anything, but that last comment sent a chill through him.

"Okay Joanna, bring it in," Hood said through the com. "We're done here for the day. You did a great job."

"Roger," her voice came through the com. "Thanks." Unit 11 began walking towards the flatbed truck that the three were using as an observation platform. When the Unit reached the truck, it started up and headed towards the city, the Eva walking alongside it. Shinji stared up at the Eva strolling along with them, as if it were on a Sunday walk.

"She is doing fantastic," Hood said to him. "We have you to thank for it."

"It couldn't have been all me," Shinji countered. "Joanna worked very hard."

"That is true," Hood replied, "but you played a significant role in helping her work as hard as she did. I don't think she would be this far along if you weren't here."

"Uh, thanks," Shinji said, not sure if he believed what he said. The truck entered a gate in the outer wall of the city, while Unit 11 descended down an elevator.

A week later, Shinji was leaving school when Miyashima ran up to him.

"Finally caught up with you," he said. "You have work today?"

"Yeah," Shinji replied. "She's meeting me here."

"Yeesh, how much longer do you need to do this job?"

"It's…going to be a while yet," Shinji dodged the question. "I'll be free after school tomorrow."

"If you say so," Miyashima said. "There she is now." The two saw Joanna approach them. She was wearing jeans and a black and white coat with the hood designed to resemble the head of a panda, ears and all when the wearer pulled it on.

"Hey, you're here," Shinji said to her.

"Y-yeah," she replied. She took a quick glance at Miyashima, and furrowed her brow, avoiding any further eye contact with him.

"How you've been?" Miyashima asked her, with her only response being to turn her head away from him with a humph.

"Jeez, you're still mad, aren't you?" he remarked.

"You really should apologize," Shinji said to him.

"I really don't see why," Miyashima retorted. "Besides, even you didn't know that would make her angry." Shinji crossed his arms, and stared at him, waiting. Miyashima in turn, sighed, walked over, and stood in front of her.

"Look, I'm sorry that I called you Joey," he said to her. "I didn't realize that you didn't like being called that, but in my defense, you didn't tell me when Shinji first introduced us. I was just trying to lighten things up. That's my style." Joanna studied him for a few moments.

"Maybe… you're right," she said. "I'll forgive you on this, but don't call me by that name again."

"See, it all worked out," Shinji said. "I think that there is a lesson you can take away from this, don't you agree?" Miyashima thought about it for a moment.

"Not that I can think of," he replied. "I have to get going. See you around Shinjiko." This time, it was Shinji that furrowed his brow. The two watched him leave for a minute, followed by Joanna turning to Shinji.

"Shinjiko?" she asked. "What's he talking about?"

"Well, it's something you don't know about," Shinji replied. "It was during our school's cultural festival, and there weren't enough girls in the astronomy club, and- anyway, he's a nice guy, so I hope you can get along with him."

"I-I'll try," she said. Shinji then saw that Joanna was looking past him. "Uh, do you know her?" He turned around to find Miyoko standing there.

"Uh, oh, hello there…" he never did find out her last name. "Uh, Miyoko-san." He hoped that she wouldn't be too insulted by calling her that.

"I…see that you are well, Ikari," Miyoko replied.

"Is there something I can do for you?" Shinji asked her. "There's a place we need to be, and-"

"I…just wanted to see how you were doing," Miyoko said. Both Shinji and Joanna looked at her in confusion, but before anyone else could speak, a couple of girls crowded around Miyoko, distracting her with idle bits of chit-chat.

"Uh, we have to get going," Shinji said as he started to walk, pushing Joanna along with him. "See you tomorrow." Miyoko tried to chase after him, but was prevented by her friends from doing so.

"That was weird," Shinji said after they were away.

"She seems nice," Joanna said. "She probably just wants to talk."

"But we've never talked before, that's the weird part," Shinji countered. "Why?"

"Maybe…she likes you," Joanna answered. Shinji thought about it for a few seconds.

"Impossible," Shinji shook his head. "She doesn't know me. She'd be wasting her time." He then felt a sharp jab into his side.

"Ow, what was that for?" he asked as Joanna stepped away from him, straightening out her elbow she used to jab him.

"Respect a girl's feelings," she said. "Even if you don't share them."

"Okay, I get it," Shinji said as he rubbed his side. "So what do I do, whether or not she likes me?"

"I-I suppose talk to her," Joanna replied. "At the very least, send her a message or leave a note in her locker. Do…Japanese schools have lockers?"

"There are lockers to put your shoes in," he answered. "Not those big lockers in Western schools that I've seen on TV and in the movies."

"Really," was all she said as the two continued to walk, their conversation drifting to how each others day went as they made their way to Headquarters.

As Shinji slept, he dreamed that he was on a ship, sailing on the open red sea. No one else was on board, but he knew that the ship was heading South. Shinji walked to the bow, and looked out upon the water. He also saw the stars in the night sky, but he could not recognize any constellations. And in the far distance, a bright column of light could seen in the South.

As Shinji looked out upon it wondering what it was, a dark cloud came and began to cover the sky. He saw that the clouds were thick and rolling through the sky at great speed, their colors ranging from light pink to a blood red, swirling all together. Lightning flashed, and he could see the frothing waves crash upon the sides of the ship. Shinji then heard a loud pounding sound. It didn't sound like thunder. It seemed to be coming from somewhere else. His vision filled with light, but the pounding continued, and as he began to wake up. Burke burst through, wearing his night clothes, and the whiskers on his face could be seen in the morning light.

"Wake up!" he shouted at Shinji.

"Wha-What's going on?" Shinji asked, half-successful in stifling a yawn.

"Get Joanna," Burke replied. "We're on alert." Shinji sat up on his bed, now awake.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Look outside your window," Burke replied. "Shinji got out of bed and sprinted to the window, setting aside the curtain. At first, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary, at least before he heard the sound of sirens in the distance. He then saw to his right the familiar shape of the Wunder, but it did not bring happiness to him like it usually did, instead bringing terror as that shape was distorted by plumes of smoke that was billowing from it, and the glow from the fires that were happening on board.

"How-How did," he began to say before Burke cut him off.

"I don't have time to explain. Get Joanna, and help her prepare for combat."

"You mean go to her apartment?"

"That's why you got a spare key card to her place," Burke replied sounding a little annoyed. "I don't care if she's having breakfast or in the shower, get her and bring her down to the front of the building. There'll be a car waiting for her."

"Right." Shinji ran out of the apartment, fear coarsening through him with every step, wondering if the people he knew were all right, or of they got hurt in the fighting, or… He shook his head trying to drive those thoughts away. Shinji made it to Joanna's door, and after fumbling with the key card for a couple of seconds, went in. He made his way straight to her bedroom figuring that since it was still early in the morning, she was still asleep. He opened the bedroom door; and found her sprawled on her bed, blanket and sheets thrown on the floor, wearing a teeshirt with a faded pink unicorn on it, shorts, and clutching a stuffed panda close to her. He shook her awake, yelling her name. She awoke and let out a scream, which Shinji thought, given the circumstances, that it was understandable.

"We're going into combat," he said to her. After giving a very brief explanation of what he knew so far, Joanna got up and the two rushed down to the front of the building where Burke was waiting for them with his car.

During the drive, both Shinji and Joanna noticed that the city was quiet. Burke's car was the only one on the road, and the three were treated to an eerie experience during the drive. They could see the Wunder in closer detail. Around the ship, scores of helicopters, both military, and medical swarmed. Some of them were landing an taking off from the on board helipad. There wasn't as much smoke coming out of her compared to what Shinji saw earlier, but they could see in better detail how extensive the damage was. The smoke was beginning to settle into the city, giving a hazy stillness to the scene. The three of them could even smell it in the car. Around them, cannons and missile batteries, as well as other weapons systems came up from under the ground.

No one talked to each other during the drive. Burke was talking on his phone, trying to coordinate medical rescue and other matters. Shinji noticed that Joanna has brought along her panda, holding it on her lap. He also saw that her hands, which her clutching the key, were shaking in slight tremors. Shinji placed his hand and the one nearest to him. He could feel the trembling through his hand, but it soon stopped. Within minutes of arriving at headquarters, the three ran over to the ready room when they were met by Aida.

"We're downgrading to level two alert," he said. "There's no sign of the enemy for over 200 kilometers, so Jo isn't going into combat right away, but we do need her on standby." A small bit of relief came to Shinji, but there still was enough to worry about.

"What happened to the Wunder?" Shinji blurted out. "Are they all right? Is-"

"I don't know the details," Aida replied. "I only know for a fact that Captain Katsuragi is all right. She'll be here at any moment. I…don't know about anyone else." Shinji relief at that news as well, but he wouldn't feel all right until he knew about the others.

"S-So what do I do?" Joanna asked.

"We'll need you to get in your plug suit in short order. After that, you just hang out, watch TV, play games, do what you want, as long as you remain in the vicinity. We want no more than five minutes between the go order and when you are ready to launch."

"Okay," she replied.

"And you can leave the panda with Shinji," Aida added. She looked down at the plushie she was still holding and blushed.

"Su-Sure," She kept her eyes down as she replied. The door then opened and Misato entered, followed by Asuka and Mari in their plug suits, the odor of LCL emanating from them. The sight of the three brought great relief to Shinji, knowing that they were all right. While Misato's eyes were covered by a pair of sunglasses, Shinji was able to take a good look at the two pilots, and found that their eyes were dull and lifeless with dark shades below them, their lips were cracked, and their skin was pale. Asuka looked sullen, but even Mari, by what few direct encounters Shinji had with her, appeared to always be a bundle of sunshine, looked just a sullen.

"What the hell happened?" Aida asked as he walked up to Misato.

"Nemesis Series," she replied. "They attacked every thirty-three minutes…like clockwork." It appeared to Shinji that she was having trouble forming words, taking pauses every few seconds between sentences. "Kept it up for days. Most of us…haven't slept in that time."

"Why didn't you contact us?" Burke declared as he came up to them. "We didn't know that anything was wrong until the Wunder showed up on our radar."

"They…um…they always had one around to jam all transmissions. They were trying to close down the ring on us…close down the ring…" she trailed off.

"What do you mean by 'close down the ring?'" Aida asked.

"It's an old boxing term," Burke answered for her. "When a fighter puts their opponent in a position so that they can't maneuver around the ring. I think she's trying to say that she was prevented by them from reaching a city or base, and had to take indirect ways of getting here." Misato nodded in agreement.

"It…It took everything we had to get here. We…we need to be ready…they could be …"

"And we will be ready," Aida said. "We at full strength, and can take them on." He grabbed Misato by the shoulder. "You can rest now."

"Can't rest," Misato wasn't talking to Aida, but to an empty space behind him. "Can't rest now…so much to do…" She said the last words much softer than the others.

"We'll see to the Wunder," Burke told her. "There is a a private room where you can rest for a few hours. I'll have someone take you there now." He went for his phone and started to give orders.

"Asuka…Mari…must be on standby…further attacks…" Misato started to sway from left to right, Aida the only factor preventing her from falling over.

"We're bringing their Eva here for repair," Aida said. "They need to rest as well, and we do have another pilot." Misato did not respond. Shinji noticed that Asuka took a quick glance at Joanna when she was mentioned. A female attendant walked into the room and began escort her out of the room.

"We'll be taking you down to the medical wing for a check up, and then we'll let you sleep," she said to her before turning to Asuka and Mari. "We'll be back for the both of you shortly." After the two left room, with Aida following them.

"Okay," Burke said to the others, "I have to go speak to the Commander. Shinji, Joanna, could you two keep them company? I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Oh, sure," Shinji replied while Joanna nodded yes.

"Great, Thanks." As Burke left the room, Shinji turned to see Asuka and Mari standing there.

"Um…should we go sit down?" asked them.

"…yeah, sure…" Asuka's voice sounded distant. As Shinji and Joanna made their way to a large couch, Asuka started to follow them, but when she saw that Mari was still standing there, she went back and grabbed her by the hand to lead her to the couch, but she shook off Asuka's hand yelling that she was coming before she trudged over to the couch ahead of her. Once they all were settled, the room went silent. Shinji didn't know what to say as he couldn't say the things that were used in normal conversation, such as asking how they have been. He could tell how have they been, and it wasn't good. He couldn't ask if they were all right. He could see that they were all right, at least physically. And, based on what he saw with Misato, mentally might be a different picture. He felt he had to say something, but what? The question was answered for him when Asuka turned to him.

"You worried?" she asked him.

"A little," he answered, shifting in the seat.

"I don't know why," she said as she leaned against the back of the sofa. "Just give me a few hours to nap and to have our Eva repaired, and I'll get back into the fight. Just live your life."

"I'm not worried for me," Shinji had leaned in and lowered the volume in his voice.

"Then who?" The volume of her voice matched his. Shinji responded by nudging his head towards Joanna. Asuka took a hard look at her.

"I see," she said. "So this our hope against Nerv," she added as she took notice of the girl's panda.

"I know it's likely that she will fight sooner or later, it couldn't be avoided. But today…today, I'm glad she doesn't have to fight." Asuka now shifted her gaze to him.

"And when she does fight, what then?" she asked.

"When she does…" he began, but he couldn't finish. He no answer for her.

"You need to figure out an answer before that happens," was all she said.

"Huh," Shinji settled into the sofa, reflecting on what she said. He then felt a weight against his left shoulder. He turned his head to see that Joanna had leaned against him, and had fallen asleep. They had woken up early, so he didn't blame her. Shinji then felt a similar weight on his right, and turned to Asuka leaning against him fast asleep as well.

"What is going on? Shinji asked the open air.

"What else could be said sweetie," Mari said as she laid her head on Shinji's lap "You get all the bitches." Within minutes, Shinji found himself surrounded by sleeping beauties, not daring to move lest he woke any of them. The only thought that came into his head at that exact moment was that Miyashima would kill to be in this position. He relaxed and settled back into the couch, waiting for at least one of them to wake up. None of them did, and soon, he drifted off himself. A short time later, both Burke and Aida walked in and too a good thirty seconds staring at the scene.

"Give Shinji and Joanna another hour," Burke told Aida, then put her on standby."

"Right," Aida replied. Burke looked upon the scene again.

"Shinji seems to be in quite the situation," Burke remarked.

"I know back in the day, he did catch the eye of some of the girls in school due to him being a pilot, but nothing like this," Aida added.

"Normally, I hated guys like that when I was younger, but I have to admit that it suits him. I'll leave this to you." Burke left the room, and Aida turned to do the same. Before he did that, however, he turned back around, brought out his phone, took a picture, and then left.

School had been out for a week, along with other government buildings. Other than a few grocery stores, the entire city had been shut down due to the state of emergency, and as Joanna had to be on standby 24 hours a day, Shinji was spending most of the time at Headquarters, only going home to get things for Joanna or to make her, and occasionally Burke, a quick meal to take them. As there never had been any followup attacks, the day to day routine was beginning to become boring. As he was walking down the corridor, with nowhere in particular to go, he ran into Burke.

"How's it going?" he asked Shinji.

"Fine," Shinji replied, "but I can't wait until everything goes back to normal."

"Hopefully, you don't have to wait long," Burke stated. The main speculation is that Nerv is going after the Wunder. We believe that once the ship is repaired and they leave, we'll be able to stand down. And the repairs are about 70% complete, so that means it'll just be a few more days before everything does go back to normal.

"That's good to hear," Shinji said. "But why is the Wunder being targeted?"

"That ship is the tip of the spear in our fight with Nerv," Burke answered. "They probably think that taking them down will put the war in their favor."

"Oh," Shinji said. "I hope they'll be all right."

"They will be fine," Burke said. "Katsuragi is already chomping at the bit to get back in the field."

"Huh…" Shinji became lost in thought, which Burke picked up on.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Nothing," Shinji replied. "It's just that I'm pretty amazed that after all that she has been through recently, she still wants to go back out there."

"She's a tough person," Burke said. "She's really driven to do her duty." Burke was about to say more when Aida came up to him.

"Good morning Vice-Commander," he said to Burke while handing a clipboard to him. "I need you to sign this."

"Commander goes off to Hamburg, and I get stuck doing all the crap work," he muttered as he signed the paper and returned it to him.

"We always appreciate your leadership," Aida remarked. Neither Shinji or Burke could tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"Why is he there?" Shinji asked.

"He has meeting with top-level brass regarding the attack on the Wunder, and how to deal with the situation," Burke replied. "Matters that can't be done over regular channels."

"I'm surprised he took the risk, considering the situation," Aida said. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but you were talking about someone being driven?"

"Shinji and I were talking about Captain Katsuragi," Burke answered. "I was just saying to him that she always had this drive for victory, and from what I heard, that was true even back when he was an active pilot."

"But why?" Shinji asked them. "Kaji told me a little about her past, and I know how much danger the world is in, but I don't understand what exactly drives her. Is it revenge?"

"Revenge?" Burke asked.

"He tasks me," Aida added, and he was about to say more when Burke interrupted him.

"'He tasks me; he heaps me; I see in him outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him,'"Burke gave a slight smile. "Always had a soft spot for Moby Dick."

"Well…" Aida began as he looked toward him with a blank look on his face. "I was going to quote Star Trek II, but I suppose that would work as well." The smile from Burke's face faded as he took in Aida's words.

"Well, uh, anyway," he turned towards Shinji, "there is no way that Katsuragi would end up like Ahab, or even Khan." He turned towards Aida on those last words. "Anyway, I have a meeting to get to. Se you around." Shinji and Aida watched Burke walk away.

"To be honest, I have no idea what the reason is," Aida said when Burke is out of earshot. "If you really want to know, it would be best to ask her."

"You think so?" Shinji asked.

"Sure," Aida replied. "It'll be a few days before the Wunder is back on the field, so now would be the perfect time to ask her."

"Do-Do you think so?" Shinji asked. "Aida looked at him with a compassionate look on his face.

"Is it hard to talk to her?" he asked. Shinji shrugged in reply.

"It's been so long," he said. "I mean, the last meaningful conversation we had was fourteen years ago, and that ended when I walked out of the apartment on her. So much has happened for the both of us, and I don't know how to reconnect, or even if she wants to. I know her reasoning for the way she acted when I was on board the Wunder, and I don't blame her. But she hasn't tried to contact me, even Asuka and Mari contact me from time to time." Aida stood there for a moment looking at him. He then began to rifle some papers he had in his hand.

"I think I might have the solution right…here." He pulled out a sheet of paper from the pile. "This needs this to get to her as soon as possible, and I don't have time to give it her today. Could you do me a favor and take this to her place?"

"Uh, well," Shinji began.

"Great, thanks." Aida was already halfway down the corridor when he said those words. "See you later." Shinji stood in the now empty corridor with the paper in his hand, thinking up excuses that he couldn't use as there was no one to them to. All he could do was sigh at the situation he found himself in.

An hour later, Shinji found himself in front of Misato's apartment door. He had to go through with it. This was something she had to receive. Yet, other thoughts were racing in his mind. What if she didn't want to talk to him? What the hell was he going to say to her if she did? Once again, his finger hesitated over the doorbell button, but unlike last time, he at last pushed it. Shinji waited for about a minute and raised his hand to press it again when the door opened. To his surprise, he found Miyoko standing in the open door way.

"Ikari?" she asked with a confused look on her face. Shinji looked at the nameplate again to confirm this was Misato's apartment, which it was, before turning back to her.

"Why would you…be… Shinji began, but couldn't finish his question due to the confusion. Miyoko gave him a once over with her eyes, noticing the Wille jacket he was wearing along with the paper in his hand. She sighed, and then shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Mom!"


	16. Chapter 16

Did she say what I thought she said?

That was the question running through Shinji's mind over and over as he stood in the doorway looking at his classmate. Miyoko turned her head toward a closed door, where they both heard a shuffling sound from behind it. That door opened, and Misato stepped out, wearing a pair of wrinkled jeans and a sweat shirt, her hair messy and flowing over her shoulders, with strands of it sticking out here and there.

"What are you yelling about?" she asked Miyoko, her voice equal parts groggy and annoyed. "I'm trying to take a nap before-" She stopped herself when she saw Shinji standing in the doorway.

"He-Hello there," he said to her.

"And hello to you." Her voice was soft and clear. The two of them stood there for a few moments looking at each other. Searching for something to say, Shinji remembered the note Kensuke gave him.

"Oh, uh, Colonel Aida asked me to give this to you right away," he said as he handed the message to her.

"Thanks," Misato said as she took the note. "Come in, come in." Shinji did so, slipping off his shoes before he entered. She read the note, her face scrunching up as she went on

"What the hell?" she asked herself, though both Shinji and Miyoko could hear her. "This could have waited until tomorrow. What was he thinking?" She stuffed the note into her pocket, and turned to them. Silence ensued as both he and Misato looked at each other for a few moments, not knowing what to say to each other. It was Miyoko who broke the ice.

"I didn't know that you were a member of Wille," she said to Shinji.

"Yeah, I'm a liaison officer," he replied. "I work with the new pilot. You saw her last week."

"Oh, so that was her," Miyoko said.

"I knew for a good while now," Misato approached him and began to pull on the sleeves of his Wille jacket, straightening them out and making adjustments on the collar and shoulders, preparing him for a nonexistent inspection. "There. Looking pretty sharp."

"Uh, Thank you," Shinji said, not quite knowing what make of it.

"Have a seat," Misato gestured to a living room where there was a sofa and a couple of matching chairs, along with a small piano. The three went over and sat down, Shinji and Misato taking the sofa while Miyoko took one of the chairs. Silence filled the room again for a good thirty seconds before Misato spoke again.

"Uh Miyoko, could you head out and do the shopping?"

"I was planning to do the shopping tomorrow," Miyoko replied. "And I have enough food to make dinner tonight, and-" she stopped talking when she noticed her mother's eyes boring into her.

"Please go get the groceries," she said in a flat tone. Miyoko sighed, and grabbed the list that held by a magnet on the refrigerator door along with her coat.

"If you wanted some privacy, you could have just asked," she half-mumbled.

"But we're out of orange soda. Thank you Honey," Misato replied with a wave and exaggerated smile. Miyoko replied by waving her off before closing the door.

"So…how are you?" Misato asked Shinji.

"Fine, I'm fine," he replied as quick as possible, all the while staring at his shoes.

"Uh…are you still in the Astronomy club at your school?"

"Yeah, but because I have to work with Joanna, I don't have as much time. It's the same with-" Shinji stopped talking for a brief second before turning to her. "How did you know about that?"

"I've been getting regular reports from Kaji about your school life as a courtesy to me," she answered. "Your grades seem to be good, and I'm glad Miyoko's grades are too…." She paused for a second before starting up again.

"Is…she doing all right, in school I mean. I know her grades are fine, but she doesn't talk about her day to day life there. I leave her for months at a time, so I don't have a clue. Does she have friends? Is she happy there? As her mother, these are things I really want to know about her." Shinji took a moment to think, and as he did so, Misato thought she saw him clenching his fist over and over, but didn't say anything.

"Well, we're not in the same class, and until last week, we never talked to each other, so I don't know anything about her in great detail. I can tell you for sure that she does have friends, and also that she considered quite popular in school, especially from the boys."

"Really?" Shinji saw one of her eyebrows twitch a little.

"But the thing is she always seems to turn guys down, even the ones who are popular with the girls," he added feeling a bad aura from her. Misato smiled a little at that news.

"So…what about your love life? Don't you have a girlfriend?" Her smile had mutated into a smirk.

"Wha-No! I don't have a girlfriend." He began to blush.

"Well, there's time for you yet," she said. "You deserve to have someone close in your life." Shinji hunched over a little, not looking at her. He then spoke.

"One thing I don't understand, though. How can Miyoko be your daughter?"

"Oh, I guess I need to explain that," Misato replied with a forced chuckle. "I adopted her when she was four. In the chaos surrounding 3rd Impact, there was a complete deluge of orphans coming out of Japan. Far worse than even in the 2nd Impact. I couldn't save all of them, no one could. But when I saw her at that camp, I knew that I had to take care of her. Kaji helped me out with the process, did some favors for me with some of the officials involved. He was orphan himself after 2nd Impact, you know." Shinji straightened up and turned his head towards her.

"You should ask him some time about it," she continued, "but I'm not certain he'll want to go into detail. For a couple of years, she and I lived on a base recently converted for use by Wille, and those were wonderful years. She was doing very well, though she still had nightmares. Don't tell her I said this to you, but she still has them once in a while." Shinji nodded in agreement. He knew all about that subject.

"Eventually, I had to leave for missions from time to time, and of course I couldn't take her with me. It pains me every time I had to do it, and still do today. Kaji takes care of her when I'm away, so at least she isn't alone. But I still feel that I'm missing aspects of her life, that's why I asked about her time at school." Misato turned towards Shinji to find that he was trembling a little his head turned towards the floor.

"Th-That's some life you have there," he said. She looked at him, putting her arm over his shoulder.

"If you think that I was trying to replace you or something, you'd be wrong." Shinji looked up at her wide-eyed.

"Miyoko and I have had many good years, and I don't regret any of them," she continued. "While we were roommates for only a few months, we formed a bond that is unique, with all that we have been through. That is something that cannot be replicated, no matter how much time I can spend with someone else. Those times you and I spent together are just for us. Do you understand?"

"I do," he said. "It's just that I wasn't really worried about that too much, though that was nice to know."

"Then what is it?" she asked.

"It's just that I want to know…why?" She cocked her head a little, trying to process his words.

"Why what?" Shinji answered her in brief phrases.

"If…you know all about my school life, and… if you do remember me fondly… why didn't you ever contact me? Asuka and Mari, they always send me messages. Why don't you?" Misato's lips quivered a little a she formed her answer.

"I…I didn't think you'd want to see me again," she said.

"Why wouldn't I?" Shinji asked. "There were so many things I wanted to talk to you about, questions to I wanted to ask."

"I had a bomb strapped onto your neck, and threatened to blow your head off in front of you, for one thing," she answered. "I even tried to activate the damn thing when you were escaping with the Ayanami type, but I couldn't bring myself to push the button. Later on during 4th Impact, when our systems reported that the collar had detonated, my heart skipped a beat. I was so glad a few minutes later when I learned that you were still alive."

"I-I understand why did put that thing on me," Shinji replied. "I mean, if our situations were reversed, I'd have been wary of you as well. I don't blame you or any of the crew for what you did that day." He took a breath before speaking again. "It…It must have been frightening for you that day." She looked away from him.

"I see Ritsuko must have told you about the others, huh?" She made a heavy sigh. "Yes, I was scared. Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I can still see him towering-" She held herself as if it was cold, rubbing her forearms.

"But it's me," he replied. "It's really me."

"I know that," Misato said. "Yet, I'm ashamed to say that when I see you, I get this sense of uneasiness, that something bad is going to happen. I know it's irrational, I know that it's really you, but I can't shake this feeling of dread. I guess…I guess I'll have to learn to live with it."

"I see," Shinji said. Misato stood up and began to pace around the living room.

"Do-Do you remember the last time we talked, when you left Nerv after what happened to Asuka?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied. He remembered some of what she said, but the clearest memory for him was leaving her apartment, and not looking back.

"I still feel the same today," she said. "Some days, I still feel guilty over making you pilot back then, putting you in danger." He sat there listening to her. "I realized it wasn't right, but did it anyway. Maybe…maybe, if I didn't do it, Unit 01 wouldn't have awoken."

"I didn't know the Eva could do a thing like that," Shinji replied. "How could you know that was going to happen?"

"I know that's true," Misato replied, "but I can't help feeling that I pushed you to it. You know, I can still hear the words I yelled at you on that day. 'Go for it Shinji,'" she said in a half-mocking voice. "'This isn't for someone else. It's for the sake of your own wishes.'" She took a breath. "I can't believe I even said those words."

"To be honest, I don't think I even heard you," Shinji replied. "I was focused on saving Ayanami, so I don't think you should blame yourself for that."

"Thank you," Misato said.

"Bu I have to ask you," Shinji continued. "I realize at that time I was on the Wunder you guys couldn't tell if it was me, but could have there been a way to make things easier, so that I wouldn't have done what I did and stayed with you guys?" Misato stopped her pacing and stood there looking at him.

"I know that I can't do anything about the past, but I'll admit that I've thought about it from time to time," she said. "When I do, I really can't tell what I or any of the crew could have done anything different. Ikari types are extremely dangerous, so it was for the best to have you secured in quarantine. As far as how we dealt with you, we had to be careful with what we said. For all we know, you could have been a spy and be giving that information to Nerv. Even if it was you, we still had to be careful, to be sure you could take in the information as easy as possible. You…probably understand now why that was the case." Shinji nodded.

"If I have to make one change over how things were done, it was letting Asuka into the room," she continued. "I thought that she would walk in, look at you, and then leave. What I didn't count on was her blurting out that it had been 14 years since you were last with us, something that we were trying to ease you into at that moment. I also didn't expect she would punch the security glass." She sighed. "I think her actions made the situation worse, and I let her know that belief afterwords."

"I suppose you have to deal with stuff like that from her a lot," Shinji said.

"Oh, she's not that bad," Misato replied. "Now, I have a question to ask you."

"Sure, go ahead"

"When…When the Ayanami type attacked the ship, and took you away, what was going through your head at that moment?" Shinji took a minute before he answered.

"I thought all of you were lying to me. You guys tell me that no one else was found in Unit 01, yet my SDAT was in there, and I know Ayanami had it in her hand. I had thrown it in the trash, and I think she picked it up. You told me that Ayanami 'no longer exists in this world,'" he used air quotes for those last words, "yet when the ship was attacked, I heard her voice. How could I still believe anything you say? The fourteen years, the bomb collar around my neck. What else were you or Sakura or Asuka or anyone else lying about? That's why I went with her."

"What was I supposed to say?" Misato asked, sounding upset. "Don't go Shinji, she and Rei are clones of your mother and there are many more of them. Do you think that would have sounded any more reasonable, even if it was the truth?"

"I-I don't know," Shinji stammered. "Maybe I would have listened more. Asked you more questions. I just…don't know."

"Maybe I could have answered your questions differently," she replied, "but I'm starting to think that it was a day neither of us could get right."

"I suppose," Shinji said. Why did you want to know about that?" Misato took a breath before she began.

"I wanted to know because I got this…idea from you when you did leave."

"Idea? I don't understand." Shinji was both confused, and for reasons he didn't understand, frightened about the words she had said. Misato began to pace again around the room speaking not at Shinji, but at any direction she was facing as she did so.

"I had this idea that I first had when you left us…shit, what are the words? They're not coming into my head." She stopped and took another breath. After about thirty seconds, she resumed both her pacing and her speaking.

"When you left with the Ayanami type, I got this idea, maybe you could call it belief, that…anyone would do." Her pacing increased in speed. "That you would be willing to go to anyone, even as someone as horrible as Gendo Ikari, if it meant that you would feel wanted. Are you that afraid of being alone or something?"

"I don't know what you mean!" Shinji rose off of the sofa, which made Misato stand in place due to the suddenness of it. "At that moment, I had a hint of something approaching normal, and there you were ordering me to stay where I was, and threatening to kill me. What the hell was I supposed to do? It was like you became a stranger to me!"

"I know what I did was wrong," she shot back her voice rising in volume with each word, "but didn't you try to understand? Couldn't you-"

"You all abandoned me!" He yelled at her.

"And you abandoned us!" She yelled back. A moment of silence, and then Shinji saw her eyes fill with tears.

"And…you abandoned me." Her voice was soft, higher than a whisper, but he still had to struggle to hear it.

"Misato…" he began to walk towards her in slow steps.

"My father…" she began, her voice was stronger, but not at full volume. "He put his own research before my mother and I, and it hurt us so bad." Shinji got closer to her. "And when I looked back on everything, I began to notice that you two were similar. You just care for no one but yourselves, always leaving when it suits you…and I…I hate it. I hate him so much. And the scary part of this for me is that I can see myself hating you too." Those last words made Shinji stop in his tracks.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't actually hate you, and I know you are a good person," she continued. "But I don't know if I can separate the two of you in my head. Oh God, I am a horrible person. I'm so sorry." Shinji stood there facing her, watching her reduced to sobbing. He bounded a few steps between then, and clasped her shoulders.

"When I first came here, I started working at the daycare center at Headquarters. I didn't want to do it. I mean, these are little kids here. Well, I was convinced to do it, and it was difficult at first. I made a ton of mistakes at that time. There were times where I was angry with them for things like making a mess or throwing a tantrum. There were also times where I was angry with me for taking something away from them or when they had to be put in a timeout. I thought at first that they wouldn't want to speak to me after that or I would have nothing but trouble after that. But it turned out that despite what we had done to each other, that everything was back to normal in a few days to even a few hours. Many of them even apologized for their bad behaver." Even though her tears had stopped, Shinji could still feel her shaking between his hands. She stared at him with an almost pathetic look on her.

"What I'm trying to say is that I learned sometimes you're going to disappoint those you care about, yet it doesn't mean you no longer care. I also learned that a person can see the both the good and the bad in someone else, and still like them or care about them. I know I have my faults, and I'm not sure of I can ever get over them, but I am going to try. And I know that you have your faults, even from the first day that I met you. But, I'm sure that you've been working on them as well." Misato nodded in reply.

"A lot less beer now," she added. "A little more orange soda."

"I don't know much about your father outside of what you or Kaji told me, but I do remember he said that he was the one who rescued you on the day of 2nd Impact. Maybe…maybe he wanted to show you that he could be better person, but he didn't have time, so he put it in one grand gesture. Maybe he wanted to show you that in the end, he did care."

"I'll probably never know," she said.

"I don't know, but I want to tell you that I do care, and I'll always will." He moved his arms around her enveloping her in a hug. At first, she didn't move a muscle, but at a slow pace, she brought up her arms, and clasped him in return. The two remained that way for a few minutes, only releasing each other when they heard the door open, and Miyoko stepped in, carrying two bags stuffed with food.

"I'm home," she said as she used he foot to close the door.

"Welcome home," Misato said as she wiped any remaining tears from her face.

"The train stopped in between stations for about ten minutes for some reason, and I thought that if I had to wait any longer, I'd have to eat the ice-" Miyoko stopped what she was saying when she saw that her mother's eyes were red, and a little on the puffy side.

"Are you okay?" She rushed over to her, bags still in her hands.

"It's fine," Misato replied.

"But your eyes-"

"I'll explain later tonight," Misato interrupted her. "It's nothing you have to worry about. Now put this food away.

"Fine, fine." Miyoko trudged over to the fridge and began to put things in there. Misato turned to Shinji.

"So…what do we do now?" She asked him.

"I'm not sure," he replied. Misato paced around for a few moments before she spoke to him again.

"With all that was said between us, I'm thinking that I would like to do something that should have happened when you first came out of Unit 01, and I want to do it now."

"What were you thinking?" he asked.

"I want to start again by giving you a grand tour of the Wunder. We can leave right now if you want." Shinji took a few moments to think about it. It was true most of his memories of the ship were bad, but if she wanted to start over…

"Sure, why not," he replied.

"Okay then, let me straighten up a little and get into my uniform, then we'll head over there."

"So, basically you're going to wear the stupid hat again?" Miyoko asked her.

"For the last time, it's not a stupid hat," Misato complained. "Just let me get dressed, okay? It'll only take a couple of minutes." As she went off to her bedroom, Shinji turned to Miyoko.

"It is a stupid hat," he heard her mumble. She then noticed that he was looking at her.

"It looked like she was crying earlier," She said to him. "Is she all right?"

"I think so," Shinji replied. "Things kind of got emotional while you were gone."

"Huh," she replied. "I just remember her crying from time to time when I was younger. I didn't like it. I just want to make sure that she is all right."

"I see," Shinji replied. "I…do have one question for you."

"Go on."

"At school, I've noticed from time to time that you seemed to be watching me. Were you?"

"Yeah," she answered. "Over the years, my Mom had been telling me about you. She sometimes made it sound like I had an older brother, the way she went on. When she found out that were going to the same school as me, she asked me to watch you from a distance to make sure you were all right. Apparently there was some incident involving you a few months ago. I don't know what it was, she never said anything to me, but I could tell she was extremely worried about it."

"I…I see," Shinji stammered. "Y-You don't have to worry about anything like that."

"O-Okay," She said looking at him with some confusion.

"So…what do we do now at school?" Shinji said. "We never talked to each other when we are there."

"I don't think that would stop us from talking about ordinary things," she answered. "Sure, there might be a few questions, and probably more than a few jokes from our friends, wondering if we're dating or something, but I think we can get through that, can we?" Shinji didn't say a word, but he did blush a little when she mentioned dating. They heard Misato's bedroom door open, and they saw her come out in her uniform. The uniform was similar to what she wore when he first saw her on the Wunder, though it looked like lighter material to him.

"Miyoko, I'll be back for a late dinner," she said with a huge smile. "Shinji, shall we get going?"

"Sure," he replied. As the two left, Shinji looked at the cap she was wearing, and concluded that it was a little on the ridiculous side.


	17. Chapter 17

The train sped along the tracks, heading into a tunnel that took it through the city wall, and beginning to slow down as it came out the other side. Both Shinji and Misato were the only ones in the car, right next to each other. Shinji, who was seated right next to the window looked out of it to see that the train was heading towards a large open air structure. As the train got closer and continuing its deceleration, he saw the Wunder, wings folded and resting in the center of it.

"There she is," Misato said as she stood up and streached, followed by Shinji standing up a moment later. The train came to a complete stop, and the doors to the rail car opened. Misato and Shinji walked out of the car as several people, who Shinji assumed to be workers, boarded it, some of them saluting Misato as they went past her. They walked a short distance, and made their way onto the gangplank. When they entered the ship, Misato began to speak.

"The Wunder was originally designed by the Russians as part of their contribution to the fight against the Angels," she said. "Their philosophy was that if you have a mobile vessel that has as much firepower as Tokyo 3 in its prime, the angels would be defeated."

"So…why didn't we see it back then?" Shinji asked.

"The problem was getting enough energy to power the ship," she replied. "It would take so many fusion or N2 reactors to give it enough power, that it would become too top heavy to get it off the ground. So, it stayed for years in storage until we…procured and fitted it out, and even then, it was no better than a large ocean-going vessel. In the end, what we really needed was Unit 01. And as they say, the rest it history." Shinji was looking around the corridor, taking the sight.

"It's like were in a large building," he remarked.

"I know what you mean. It's easy to get lost in a ship like this. N-Not that it ever happened to me," Misato replied. "You should know that this ship is maintained by a vast cadre of support staff, it isn't just me and the bridge crew. It's technicians, engineers, even the people who mop up the corridors here. They're just as important as anyone directly involved in the fighting." The two walked into a large room containing massive pieces of equipment along with dozens of people manning workstations.

"Here is the ship's engineering section," Misato spoke in an elevated voice so she could be heard over the loud hum of the machines. "This is where we convert the energy from Unit 01's core into electricity to power the ship."

"It's huge," Shinji said as looked at one of the turbines.

"I know. I would like to give you a further explanation, but even being the ship's Captain, even I have some trouble with some of the technical details. They just go over my head." The two then saw someone head over to them. As she got closer, Shinji thought that she looked familiar, and that she had met her before, but he couldn't remember her name.

"Captain, I didn't realize you were here today," the woman said as she came up to them.

"Just came aboard," Misato replied. "I'm giving Shinji here a tour of the ship." She then turned to him. "Shinji, this Lieutenant Commander Ibuki. She was with us, back in the day with Nerv."

"A pleasure to meet you again," She said. "I would love to give a more detailed tour here, but I'm afraid I don't have the time."

"That's all right," Shinji replied, before turning his attention to a nearby machine.

"How goes the repairs?" Misato asked her.

"Excellent Ma'am," Maya replied. "We are running ahead of schedule in fact. We could be back in action as early as the day after tomorrow."

"That's good," Misato nodded as well.

"There was an interesting development earlier today though," Maya added, her voice dropping in volume, yet it could still be heard.

"Go on," Misato said, her eyes shifting her a brief second to see if Shinji was still distracted.

"Some people from the base in the city came with the replacement computer parts as scheduled. The interesting part was that they insisted on installing it themselves."

"Did they?" There was now worry in her voice.

"Not completely. They stopped when we confronted them about it. However, they managed to take some memory cores they replaced with them," Maya continued.

"That is an interesting development."

"Indeed Captain. I've already ordered an investigation. See what they did."

"Keep me posted. I'll need to discuss some things with the Vice-Captain. Thank you Commander." She turned to her guest. "Shall we get going Shinji?" Misato headed for the exit, Shinji giving a slight bow to Maya before following her. Once the two could use their normal voice volume, Misato turned to Shinji.

"So, what do you think?" She asked him.

"It's pretty amazing," Shinji replied. "I remember Commander Ibuki now, but she didn't seem so…stern. I could be remembering it wrong though.

"No, I have to agree with you there," Misato replied. She let out a small sigh before she continued. "These many years, they…they can change a person. But in her defense, those changes are for the better. She is still a kind person, just more of a no nonsense type these days."

"If you say so," Shinji said. The two made their way around to various parts of the ship, such as the workshops and Eva cages with Misato explaining unique facts about them. At the cafeteria, Shinji was taken back to the kitchen, with the head chef leading a grand tour of the storage areas, stoves, and various other kitchen equipment. Shinji even asked several questions about aspects of cooking from him.

After that, they went to sick bay. There were no patients, as every injured person had been transferred to the city, so they were looking at the rows of empty beds. Out of the corner of his eye, Shinji saw Sakura, who was in an adjoining room that was visible through a large glass window. She was jumping up and down and waving her arms in a wild manner, trying to get his attention. When Shinji waved back, she rushed out into the ward.

"It's been a while," she said as she grabbed his hand, and began to shake it. "What are you doing here?"

"Misato's giving me a tour of the ship," he replied. "I'm awestruck."

"She certainly lives up to her name," Sakura declared. "How have you been?"

"To tell you the truth, a bit bored," Shinji told her. "All the schools are closed considering what happened, and that means all the fun stuff too."

"That's a shame," she said. "I hope things will get back to normal for you."

"Speaking of things getting back to normal," Misato, who was leaning against a wall, now spoke up. "Have you heard anything about the crew members that are still in the hospital?" Sakura stood a little straighter at her words, at the same time assuming a more formal demeanor when she answered.

"No Ma'am. I do plan on heading over to the main hospital tomorrow to check up on everyone, and to speak with the doctors there. I'll have a better idea then."

"Very well," Misato replied. "I want those who are well enough to be moved to finish their hospitalization on the ship."

"Yes Captain, but I should remind you that there are still several crew members that are in critical condition," Sakura continued.

"I am aware of it, and I've made requests for additional crew, but I don't know if we'll receive them before we need to ship out."

"I'll give you an assessment before the end of the day tomorrow then," Sakura said.

"Thank you," Misato said to her. "We better get going, Shinji. Oh, one more thing Lieutenant."

"Yes, Captain?" A small smirk came upon Misato's face.

"You can let go of his hand now." Sakura let go of Shinji's hand, her face turning successive degrees of red. Shinji, blushing in his own right, gave her a wave and followed Misato out.

"Well, that was interesting," Misato remarked as Shinji kept his head down, his face still red.

"If…If you say so," he replied, rubbing the hand that Sakura held.

"You know, she often talks about you," Misato added as the two stepped aboard an interior monorail.

"She does?"

"Yes she does," she continued. "She told me stories about back when she was in the hospital after your first Angel battle, and how she lectured her brother over him hitting you. Toji had even told her over the years stories about you. She even told us once about the time the two of you and Makinami spent the day in the city."

"Huh," Shinji said to himself. The monorail moved them into a large open chamber, which they could see through a row of windows. In the center of the chamber was a large sphere, with wires, cables and other physical supports connecting it to the rest of the ship.

"What's that?" he asked Misato.

"That…That's Unit 01," she answered.

"What?" Shinji asked to no one in particular. As the monorail moved them past the encased Eva, he followed it with his eyes back a long as he could see it.

"Are you all right Shinji?" Misato asked him.

"I'm fine," Shinji replied. "I…was just saying goodbye." As Unit 01 left their sight, Misato put her arm over his shoulder.

"I miss her too," She told him. "Compared to Ayanami types I've seen, she was always the most human."

"The one that I've been talking to seem to be that way too," Shinji said. "She isn't like Ayanami, but she does appear to be more human.

"In what way?" Misato asked.

"Well, there's the art for one thing." He then explained to her about the art projects she has done, all the while the monorail took them to a junction where they disembarked and proceeded to walk to the bridge. Upon entering, Shinji saw the tree-like structure with all the bridge stations on their branches. He also saw the bridge didn't have the air of busyness about it like he remembered as there only were three other people in the chamber besides them. Aoba, who was sitting in the command chair, noticed the two and lowered the branch he was on, so he could step down.

"Captain, I didn't know you were going to be here," he said to her.

"I didn't think I'd be here today either," she replied, "but I'm playing tour guide for Shinji today." Aoba peered over her shoulder and saw him looking around. "How goes everything?" She asked him.

"Kind of slow Captain," Aoba replied. "The off duty members of the bridge staff are playing a volleyball game on the flight deck with some of the crew from the lower decks."

"That's nice. It's good that they can still have fun like that with all the repair work being done." While they were talking, the two other members of the crew looked up from their stations to see what was going on, which Misato noticed.

"Ah Shinji, this is our helmsman Sumire Nagara," she said as she gestured towards her.

"A pleasure," Nagura said.

"How do you do?" Shinji replied.

"And this is Kohji Takao. He is responsible for engine control."

"Good to see you," he said to Shinji.

"I…I remember you," Shinji replied. "You were there that day when-"

"Think nothing of it," Kohji replied, cutting Shinji off. "I was just glad I was able to help."

"Uh…sure," Shinji said, unsure if he should say anything else or not.

"If you don't mind my asking Captain, but did I hear you right in saying that you giving him a tour of the ship?" Sumire asked.

"Yes I am," Misato replied. She then began to show Shinji around the bridge, explaining in detail the Hirnstamm tower along with some of the unmanned stations. She then allowed both Summire and Kohji to show him their stations, explaining the nature of their duties. After they said their goodbyes and left the bridge, Misato led him out onto the outer hull.

"Where are we going?" Shinji asked her.

"I want to show you one more thing," she said as she started to climb up a nearby ladder. Shinji followed her, and climbed for a few minutes until they reached a small platform.

"This," Misato said when he finally came onto it, "is the ship's figurehead. Tell me, do you notice anything familiar about it?" How could he not notice the short squat shape of that old penguin, sculpted to look like it he was flying or swimming.

"Pen-Pen," Shinji said, a huge smile breaking out on his face.

"I don't think the metal sculptor got his proportions exactly right, but I'm not complaining," she stated. "I figured that as he was a sort of mascot at our home, that he would make a good mascot for the ship, even though he is no longer here." Misato took a long breath before speaking again. "Come on." She began to climb up the ladder again with Shinji following her. They reached the top and were walking down the flight deck, Misato explaining the various features on it.

"And that's the Wunder," she finished. "What do you think about it?"

"What else is there to say?" Shinji said. "To be honest with you, there's a part of me that still wishes I was here from the beginning." Misato put her arm around him.

"I can see why you feel that way," she said. "To tell you the truth, I wouldn't be against you coming with us in the near future. You could easily work in the galley with your cooking skills. Lord knows we could use the help there."

"Thank you," Shinji, replied," but…not now. All of my friends are here, and Joanna still needs me."

"I…I understand," Misato said. "That reminds me. There is something I wanted to give you. It's in my quarters. Is it okay if I run and get it? It would only be for a few minutes, could you wait here while I do that?"

"Yeah, sure," Shinji answered. "I don't mind."

"Great, I'll be back as soon as I can." She headed through a hatchway at a brisk pace. Shinji leaned on a railing looking out onto the city wall in the distance taking in the view. After a minute or so, he heard someone come through the same hatchway. He didn't think that it would be Misato, as he figured that not enough time had passed, and that she would have gotten his attention. The steps stopped only a few feet from him. He heard nothing from the source, though after a few minutes, he began to smell tobacco smoke drifting across his nose.

He turned in the direction of the smoke to find Ritsuko standing right next to him. She was leaning against the railing, lit cigarette in her mouth, not appearing to notice him. He straightened up a little while keeping an eye on her. He saw her eyes shift in his direction, and she then turned towards him.

"Didn't notice you in that jacket," she said to him after she took the cigarette out of her mouth, exhaling smoke as she did so. "You're looking well." Shinji said nothing, gripping the railing with his hand as tight as he could. When he formed in his head the words he wanted to say, he started to speak, but Ritsuko interrupted him.

"I…want to say I'm sorry," she said.

"Huh?"

"I said I am sorry," she repeated. "While you were deserving to know the truth, I gave it to you in such a way that was callus and cruel. I should not have done that."

"Then…then why? Why did you do that?" Shinji demanded.

"Because…" she took a breath. "Because I was afraid. Afraid for Misato, afraid for those who work under me. I still saw in you the potential for danger, and felt that I needed to deal with the threat. It turns out I was mistaken." Shinji stood there taking in all that she said. He wanted to say something, but never got the chance as someone yelled at him from behind.

"Look out!" Shinji began to turn towards the voice only to be smacked in the head with a volleyball. He fell back against the railing appearing for a brief second as if he was going to fall over, Ritsuko moving towards him to keep him from doing so. Once she was sure he was secure, she turned to two figures that were running towards them.

"What the hell is going on?" She demanded when they were in hearing distance.

"Sorry ma'am, it got away from us," the man replied.

"It's was your damn trick shot that got us into this mess," the girl added before she spoke to Ritsuko. "We really are sorry Vice-Captain. Is he all right?"

"I think so," she replied. Shinji now had steadied himself, rubbing the part of his head where the ball had smacked him. "Are you okay?" she asked him. "Do you want to see Suzuhara?"

"I'm okay," he said. The girl took a better look at him.

"It's…It's that kid," she remarked.

"He's wearing a Wille uniform," Tama declared. "I can also see a NewCon patch on the jacket. When did this happen?" By this time Shinji had recovered from the impact, though it still stung a little.

"It's a long story, "Ritsuko replied. "Suffice to say, that Shinji here is working with our organization." Shinji gave a slight bow to the two crewmen. After a minute, Tama took a couple of steps forward.

"I'm ships technician Hideki Tama. Pleased to meet you, and sorry for hitting you with the ball," he said to Shinji. He then turned his head towards his companion, waiting.

"Midori Kitakami, I man the sonar and radar stations on the bridge. A pleasure."

"Shinji Ikari. Liaison officer for the pilot of Unit 11. Pleased to meet you, and don't worry about hitting me. It was an accident." The four were interrupted by another voice.

"What's going on here?" They turned to find Misato standing at the hatchway.

"We just met," Shinji said. "I got whacked with their volleyball by accident."

"It was my fault Captain," Tama added.

"Really?" Misato walked up to Shinji, and looked at where he was rubbing his head. Shinji nodded with a slight smile on his face.

"Very well," she said. "I think that it is getting late for that sort of thing anyway. Perhaps it's best to put it away for the day."

"Yes ma'am," Kitakami said glaring at Tama. The two walked over to where the net was while Misato turned to Ritsuko.

"Ritz, I need to discuss something alone with Shinji. Could you give us some space? Don't stray too far though. I'll need to talk to you right after on some ship matters."

"Right," Ritsuko replied. "It was good to talk to you again. I hope we can speak again sometime."

"Yes, that would be fine," Shinji replied. "Thank you." As she walked away to where they were taking down the net, Misato stood next to Shinji.

"What was that all about?" she asked him.

"Oh, uh, she apologized to me for what happened…the last time we met." He winced a little. Misato put her arm around his shoulder.

"Huh…Well, that's good," she said. "Now, the reason I wanted to talk to you alone is that I want to give you something."

"Yeah, I remember you saying something about that," he said looking at her.

"That's right," Misato pulled out of her pocket a handkerchief, unwrapping it to reveal a cross-shaped pendant.

"That's…" he didn't finish his words, but Misato nodded that he was correct.

"My father gave it to me," she continued, "on the day of Second Impact."

"Kaji told me many years ago," Shinji replied. He picked it up by the string, and let it hang on his finger, the pendant twisting around in the light breeze.

"I don't know why he gave it to me," she said. "I know he said something, but I couldn't hear him over the noise and general chaos that was going around us. He might have wanted me to give this to someone, or maybe he wanted me to keep it for myself. I haven't been wearing it for a while now, I just had it in a drawer in my quarters. I thought maybe it was a good idea to give it to you."

"Are you sure?" Shinji asked.

"Positive," Misato replied. "I hope it'll be a reminder to you that we do have your back, no matter how far away we are."

"Thank you." Shinji couldn't understand why his eyes felt a little teary.

"I also want to add that if you ever find yourself in trouble, and you feel you can't go to those around you, you can always contact me. Even if I'm halfway around the world and you need my help, I'll do what I can. That's a promise."

"S-Sure." Shinji wondered why would she say such a thing. Would she abandon a mission or something just because he was in trouble? That wouldn't make sense. Misato spoke again.

"Well, I guess that's it. I would head out with you, but I have some matters that I have to attend to here. I see that Tama is still on the flight deck. I'll have him escort you out."

"Okay. Thanks again for the tour."

"Sure thing. And I'll want to talk to you again before we ship out," Misato said. "See you soon." As she watched Shinji leave with Tama, Ritsuko walked up to her.

"He seems happy," Ritsuko said.

"He does," Misato said. The two stood there in silence for a minute before Ritsuko spoke again.

"So, did you and Shinji talk things out?" she asked.

"We sure did," Misato replied, a smile on her face. "So, you did actually apologize to him?"

"Yes I did," Ritsuko answered. "What makes you think that I wouldn't?"

"I have my reasons," Misato chuckled. "You told him yours?" she then asked.

"Of course I did…for the most part." She flung her cigarette butt over the side before lighting up another.

"Huh…" It was a few moments before she began to speak again, the smile now gone. "You know while he was here, this thought kept creeping into my mind, tempting me. It would be easy. Just lift off, and run like hell away from here with him on board. But I couldn't do it."

"True, we wouldn't have a full crew compliment, and we can't afford to fight both Nerv and the rest of Wille," Ritsuko added.

"It's no just that," Misato replied. "If I did it, just take him, would I be any better than Nerv? Not from where I stand."

"Then what are you going to do?" Ritsuko asked. Misato had to think about that question. She was thinking about many things. She recalled that day when Shinji tried to kill himself. She had confronted her back on the ship, demanding why she did what she did. She remembered Ritsuko showing her the documents. When she asked how she got them, her exact words were 'they got sloppy with their security.' She remembered reading through them about something called the Arbiter Plan. It was so redacted, she couldn't make out what it entailed, but she did see that whenever the plan was mentioned, Shinji's name was always nearby. So far, they just let him be. There was no sign that whatever this plan was, it was ready to be initiated in the near term. But with Nerv stepping up their attacks, will that change? What if they start getting desperate?

"I don't know," she said at last. "But we'll need to keep one eye on this city while we're deployed. Can you monitor communications from the city?"

"It's not impossible, but I can't make any guarantees," Ritsuko replied as she threw a second butt over the railing.

"See what you can do," Misato said.

"And Shinji?"

"We'll let him live his life…until he no longer can."

Any large city in the world would have a portion of it dedicated to businesses engaged in various entertainments of the seedy kind, and New Constantinople was no exception. In the crowds that were passing through looking at the store fronts of various sex shops and brothels, a single figure made her way past the crowds. Covered in a hooded cloak, she proceeded down the sidewalk in quick silent steps. She looked up for a brief moment, and saw the tower at the center of the city in the distance. Her objective was in sight. It had been difficult for her in getting to this point. Hiding in the wreckage of the ship was not too burdensome. The problem was sneaking off and making her way through the wall, that took a few days to get through the correct passages and ventilation systems without detection. Even after all that, she encountered several problems getting from one ring to another. Now that there were more people around, she could spend more time in the open, go past security cameras without too much fear of alerting them. If all went well, she could be at her target as early as tomorrow. She had to keep moving. Her train of thought was interrupted when three men approached her.

"Hey there baby," the closest one to her called out. "What are you doing out so late at night?" She did not reply, and tried to maneuver past them, but was prevented from doing so.

"Let's take a look under that hood you're wearing," the man said as he reached for it. "Now, do we have to pay for your time like some of those places or can we get it for free?" he pulled the hood back a little only to discover a set of glaring red eyes staring straight at him.

"Step aside," she demanded. The man took his hands off her head and raised them a little.

"Whoa, whoa. I didn't mean anything," he said as he slid right beside her. "I was just thinking that all of us could go somewhere more private to get to know more about each other, to find out our…better qualities." She felt his hand on her sliding down until it reached her buttocks, an experience she found unpleasant. Before the man could do anything else, she grabbed the hand that was touching her, and squeezed, crushing it. She then pulled on the adjoining arm, and snapped it in three places, letting go while kneeing him in the chest, the man landing against the side of the building. The other two were in stunned silence for a few seconds before they moved in.

"You damn cunt!" one of them yelled as he raised a fist to strike her, but she responded with a roundhouse kick to his face, knocking him to the ground unconscious. She then turned to the third man, who seeing what had happened to his friends, ran past her as fast as he could. She then took off in the original direction she was heading at a full run as well. The first man, still slumped against the wall, looked down at his hand or the crushed remains of it, seeing the bones sticking out of skin. He began to scream in pain, repeatedly calling the fleeing figure a fucking bitch, the screams going into the night air.

After running for several blocks she came to a halt. She was not tired, but she did believe that she was no longer in danger of discovery and apprehension, so there was no longer any need to run. It would have been ideal to eliminate her attackers, but she was unable to due to the attention the incident was receiving from the surrounding crowds. She had stopped in front of a large store window, and she turned to see her reflection, confirming that she had taken no damage. She brought the hood back over her blue hair, and continued to walk towards the direction of the tower. She had to reach her objective. She had her orders.


	18. Chapter 18

The afternoon sky was beginning to take on a golden hue from the setting sun. Shinji felt a slight wind against his body as he was walking along a set of rail tracks, that wind swaying the vast expanse of grass lining both sides of them. He didn't know what was on either end of the line, only that he was heading south, and that knowledge irked a little since he swore that felt familiar to him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. And yet, the most interesting thing about the situation he found himself in was that he was not alone in his stroll. Rei Ayanami, dressed in her school uniform, was walking next to him.

"Is this all right?" she asked him.

"What is?" Shinji asked in return.

"Is it all right for you to live like this?" she clarified.

"I wonder sometimes," he replied. "I used to think that this was a nasty world, a world where I was forced to do painful things, and my friends would get hurt because of them. But now, I see that the world isn't so bad. It's also a world where the people I care about are, despite the problems it has."

He heard a train horn blare ahead of him, and then saw the train coming down the tracks towards the two of them at a casual pace. He stepped aside and watched it go by as it passed. He didn't see anyone on it, though he thought for a second he saw a little boy wearing a striped shirt sitting in a car. The train was moving too fast, so he wasn't sure that he saw it right. When the train had past, he turned back to Rei.

"I'm not sure, but I think that I'm happy," he added. Rei studied him for a moment before she spoke again.

"And would you defend that happiness?" she asked. The question caught Shinji off guard as he stopped walking and looked straight at her.

"Defend? What do you mean?" Shinji answered, his voice betraying concern.

"If your happiness is in danger, would you be willing to defend it?" She said. Shinji took a few moments to think it over.

"I don't know what I can do," he answered, his head down. "But still, I would do what I can."

"Even though it could make you pay a high price?" Rei asked. He stood there in silence for a few seconds, trying and failing to think of an answer.

"I'm not sure," was all he could think up.

"Don't worry," Rei said. "I'll protect you." Before Shinji could say another word, he woke up. He sat up on his bed, shaking the sleep out of him. There was a long day ahead of him; and as he got ready, the dream fading from memory, Shinji couldn't help but have a sense of unease about him, though there was no reason to.

The morning air was cool to her as she walked through the last ring of greenery before she reached the center of the city. The tower was now looming over her as she kept her march, her breath, cooling as she exhaled, was coming out in regular intervals, as if she were an old style locomotive. By her estimate, she would be at the tower within two hours, then the operation would begin.

She considered stopping at a park bench or hide in a bush and rest for an hour, perhaps get a few minutes of sleep, but she decided against it. Her orders were clear, to proceed to the Wille headquarters in this city at all possible speed. She continued on, bringing up in her memory the layouts of the complex she had to learn, trying to determine where would be the best point of entry, and other scenarios she was considering, getting closer to her objective with each step.

Both Shinji and Joanna sat on a rock, backs against each other, staring out in different directions. The Ayanami type sat on a nearby bench, sketchbook and pencil in hand, working at a rapid pace, attempting to replicate the scene before her on the paper.

"How much longer do we need to stay like this?" Joanna asked through clenched teeth.

"Shouldn't be too much longer," he replied through his own clenched teeth as well. "Besides, isn't this a lot more interesting than just hanging around with nothing to do?" Joanna didn't reply so much as let out an anguished groan came out of her. Shinji shifted his eyes towards Ayanami as she continued to work on her sketch. He saw her eyes narrow as they looked upon the pad, and her mouth turned down. After a few more pencil strokes, she set down her pad and let out a large sigh.

"What's wrong?" Shinji asked, moving from his pose, Joanna doing the same a second later. Ayanami stood up, and dusted the grass and dust from her occasional erasing on her pink t-shirt and Capri-style pants, Shinji taking notice of her left ankle wrapped by a remote tracking device.

"It's your bodies," she replied.

"Our bodies?" Joanna asked.

"I can not get them right," she declared. "They look all…blocky." She showed them the sketch. Shinji and Joanna saw themselves in the drawing, and while neither of them could say it was bad, neither could they say it was good as well. They could see that their images were stiff, even blocky as she said, as if the perspective is off.

"I need to have examples of the human form that I can use. Perhaps you two can provide them."

"What do you mean? How do we do that?" Joanna asked. The Ayanami type looked at the two of them with a serious look in her eyes.

"Both of you, remove your clothes," she said in a firm voice. The two just looked at her in stunned silence for ten seconds.

"Wha-What are you talking about?" Shinji stammered while Joanna hunched over, covering her chest, and repeating the word no over and over to herself.

"You do not wish to?" Ayanami asked.

"You mean just strip, right here, right now? Of course not!" Joanna yelled.

"I see," the girl replied. "Then what do I do?"

"I don't know," Shinji replied. "Maybe we can see if we can get you some pictures or something."

"What! You're going to find her porn?" Joanna hunched over a bit more.

"I don't know, I'm still panicking a little," he answered. "But we will find an answer."

"Yeah. Maybe we could ask the art teachers at our schools, see if they had any advice," Joanna added as she straightened herself up and relaxed a little, though she was still shaking somewhat.

"Very well," Ayanami replied. "I will stop for today." Both Shinji and Joanna breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

"What do you want to do now?" Shinji asked as he was looking at his watch. "It's a bit too early to have lunch."

"I am not sure," she replied. "All I know is that I want to return my sketch pad to my room."

"Okay," Shinji said. "We'll go with you and maybe think of something along the way." As the grounds they were on were withing the base complex, it was a short walk to return to her room. When they arrived, Ayanami put her pad and pencil away. She then stood in front of her desk for several seconds before turning to Shinji.

"Ikari, there is a matter that I need to discuss with you," she told him.

"Oh, uh, really?" he replied. "What is it?"

"D-Do I need to leave for a few minutes?" Joanna began to inch towards the door.

"No need," she said to her before she turned back to Shinji. "There's something that I want to give back to you."

"Give back to me?" He didn't remember lending her anything. Sure, he gave her a couple of sketchbooks and a case of colored pencils, but those were gifts. "What do you mean?"

She opened a desk drawer and drew out a small black object. When she brought it to him, he saw that it was his old SDAT, the ear bud cord wrapped around the player all nice and neat.

"Where did you…" he began, but didn't finish.

"I picked it up after you dropped it," she replied. "You seemed…unwell at the time, so I brought it with me. I would like to give it to you now." She handed it to him. Shinji looked at it for a minute, then with his other hand, began to fumble around in his pocket for a few seconds, pulling out a small silver colored cylinder that was attached by a thin chain to a cross pendant of a similar color.

"I have this now," he said as he showed her the object in greater detail. "The guy at the store told me that it can hold up to 10,000 songs, but I don't if I'll ever have that many. I only got about 50 on here so far. It has headphones, but it also has an external speaker. I really like it."

"Oh, I see," she said.

"But, I want to thank you for thinking of me. I appreciate it." He handed the SDAT back to her.

"What do I do with it?" she asked as she looked at the player.

"Anything you want, I guess," Shinji replied. "Throw it away, use it yourself. It's up to you."

"I need to think about it," she said as she put it back in the drawer. "Thank you for giving it to me."

"So, uh, what do we do now?" Joanna asked.

"We could take a walk," Ayanami replied.

"Why not?" Shinji concurred. As they were leaving the room, Shinji asked a question to her.

"Uh, I was wondering, have you ever thought about giving yourself a name?"

"I have thought about it," she replied, "but I have not come to a decision as of yet. I would like to do a little research into the Japanese language before I decide." He was about the reply when he heard another voice calling out to him.

"Shinji!" He turned around to see Sakura walking towards them waving her hand.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her when they met.

"Checking up on a few of the crew members still in the hospital," she answered. "What are you doing?"

"We're trying to figure that out ourselves," Shinji said. "Oh, uh, this is Joanna, the pilot for Unit 11."

"H-Hi there," she stepped back and placed herself three-quarters behind Ayanami.

"I'm Sakura Suzuhara. It's a pleasure to meet you," she replied with a beaming smile on her face.

"And I think you know Ayanami," Shinji continued.

"It's nice to finally meet you," Sakura said. "I've been told so much about you."

"I have seen you before," Ayanami replied.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"I saw you when I was tasked with retrieving Ikari from your vessel, though I only saw you from the Mark 09's monitor." It took a few seconds for Sakura to realize what Ayanami was talking about, her face going into shock. Before anyone could say to do anything, Ayanami spoke again.

"And for that I do want to apologize to you. I would like to apologize to other members of the crew as well. I did not know at that time what I know now." There was silence for several seconds before Sakura went over to her and clasped her hands.

"There is nothing to forgive," she said. "As I told before, I heard a lot from Shinji and others about you. You are not the person you were then." Shinji relaxed as the situation resolved itself. He didn't know what to do if Sakura wasn't as forgiving. At the same time, he also wondered if Misato or anyone else would accept her apology.

"Well, I have to get going," She said as she let go of Ayanami's hand and made her way past them.

"Wait, uh, would you like to have lunch with us?" Shinji asked. "After you're done, I mean."

"I should be done in about an hour, so yeah, I'd be happy to," she replied.

"That's great. See you then," he said. As she walked off, Shinji turned to find Joanna looking at him, a cross look on her face.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

"I was just inviting a friend to lunch," Shinji replied taken a little aback. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Not a problem really," Joanna replied. "It's just that you caught me off guard, that's all. I mean, I just met her, so I don't really know her, and I don't like plans being made on the fly, that's all."

"Sorry about that," Shinji said. "Do you want me to cancel or something?"

"No," Joanna answered. "Just—Just remember next time. I'll manage. You can have your date."

"What do you mean date?" Shinji sounded more startled than angry at her words. "If it was a date, I would have not included you two in the invitation."

"If you say so," Joanna remarked. It sounded to Shinji like she didn't believe him, and he pondered that as they continued their walk down the corridor.

Sargent Gary Sullivan let out a yawn without making an attempt to stifle it as he slouched over his desk in the little guard booth. He hated days like this. Since it was a secondary point of entry into the complex, it wasn't as busy as the main gate. It didn't help that the gate was only used by authorized personnel, so he was lucky if he saw two crossings in a day. Outside of the incident with the Wunder the previous week, there was nothing approaching an emergency. The closest he could remember to one was when he had to deal with a couple of drunk college kids that wandered to the gate when he was on night shift a couple of years ago. The worse part about was he couldn't have a TV in the booth or be able to listen to music, as it was against regulations.

He was about to drift off in his mind when he noticed someone walking towards the gate, a small person, perhaps a child. That person was wearing a hood, so he couldn't see the his or her face. He stepped outside of his booth to get a better look at the person. All he could tell was that the person was female, and very young. No more than a teenager at the oldest.

"Excuse me," he called out to her when she was withing earshot. "Are you lost? Do you need any help?" The girl said nothing in reply as she continued to walk toward the gate, the only sound coming down from her was her footsteps hitting against the asphalt.

"You're not authorized to pass through here," Sullivan said to her. "If you have business, you have to go to the main gate." She kept up her advance, her pace neither slowing or accelerating.

"Halt!" he commanded, drawing out his service pistol and pointing it at her. "If you do not stop, I will shoot!" Keeping his pistol aimed at her, he reached with his free hand for his radio, which was attached to his jacket lapel to call for backup. He never got the chance as a flash of blue hair and piercing red eyes filled his vision before there was nothing but darkness.

"Sir," Lieutenant Bertain called out from her station.

"What is it?" Aida asked as he flipped through some papers, not looking up from the task.

"We've lost contact with the west gate," she answered.

"We have?" Aida flopped his papers down and went over to her station.

"Yes sir, I can't raise the post," Bertain answered. Those words made both Hood and Lithgow look up from their work.

"Send a security team down there, and see if you can bring up the post's security feed," Aida ordered. "Something isn't right with this."

"Already on it." Bertain tapped on her keyboard for half a minute before speaking again. "Bringing it up now." Her monitor lit up, showcasing the blood splattered room and in one corner, the unmoving arm of Sargent Sullivan.

"Damn it," Aida muttered to himself. "Sound intruder alert. Summon the Vice-Commander and have additional security teams head out in the direction of the west gate. Let's start going through the security footage, see if we can pinpoint where the intruder or intruders are going."

"Right," Bertain replied, bringing up security feeds onto the main screen. As this was happening, Burke came into the command center, tapping on his tablet.

"What do we got?" Burke asked.

"We have an intruder on base. Security team have been sent, and we're trying to ascertain where they are or their strength," Aida answered, not taking his eyes off the security feeds.

"And everything was nice and quiet here too," Hood declared.

"Got something!" Bertain yelled out. On the main monitor, one of the feeds ballooned in size, taking up the whole monitor. The image showed someone turning the corner of one corridor into another for a brief second.

"Where is this at?" Burke asked.

"At the junction between Sections A15 and 16 heading intoto A16," Bertain replied.

"Send the nearest security teams to A16 and bring up the feeds from that Section." Aida said. Several feeds showed up on the main monitor. All had nothing on them until a cloaked figure came into view on one of the feeds. The image was frozen an magnified, revealing the face of the intruder.

"What the…" Aida trailed off.

"Where is the Ayanami type that we've been keeping?" Burke asked Matsu.

"She is the corridor right next to us," he replied. "She is with Shinji and Joanna."

"Than that means—" Burke started to say.

"Security Team 3 is entering A16," Bertain declared. "Switching to body cam." The monitor switched over to a live view from one of the security team members.

"Order them to engage and neutralize the target," Burke commanded. They saw the team turn a corner and come face to face with the Ayanami. They opened fire, only for the bullets to fall down in front of her, and an orange-white shimmer appeared in front of her. After the firing ceased, there was a large flash of light followed by the feed going dead.

"Is that what I think it is?" Burke asked.

"Our readings confirm it," Bertain replied. "That was an AT Field."

"An advanced model Ayanami type," Lithgow added. Aida broke out his shock and began to shout orders.

"Level 1 battle alert. This is not a drill!" At the same time, Burke ran to the Commanders desk and picked up the land line phone.

"We are under direct attack," he yelled into it. "All Varangian units proceed to Headquarters immediately. This is all out war."


	19. Chapter 19

The clamor from the alarm shook both Shinji and Joanna from their strolling, while Ayanami looked unperturbed by the situation. They looked at each other in confusion.

"Wh-What's going on?" Joanna asked as her legs began to shake a little.

"That's the general battle alert," Shinji replied. "Are we under attack?"

"Do…Do I have to deploy?" Joanna asked.

"They told us that they would give the order through a base-wide announcement, and they haven't sent it out yet. Since it's only a short distance away, maybe we should go to the command center."

"Right, Joanna replied. The three began to run and within a minute, reached their destination. Upon entering, they came upon a quiet but steady hum from the people at their stations. When Burke saw them, he ran over.

"Thank God you guys are here," he said to the three of them. "I was about to order security to go find you."

"What's going on?" Shinji asked.

"We're under attack, that's what," Burke answered as he directed them to looks towards towards the main monitor, where they saw the enemy walking down s corridor. Shinji's eyes went wide at what he was seeing. After a minute of watching, he shifted his eyes to the Ayanami that was next to him. She was staring at the screen with no expression, with no way to tell what she was thinking.

"Do I need to deploy?" Joanna asked.

"For the moment, no," Burke answered. "You can't fight her without demolishing the entire base. But the situation could change, so you will standby here for the moment."

"Why is she attacking us?" Shinji asked.

"Good question. We were always expecting a grand assault from an enemy Eva or from Mark 04 drones. Nothing like this." Aida then approached the group.

"Ken, tell me we have some good news," Burke said to him.

"Very little. We're sealing sections off from each other in order to isolate her, but they'll do little good. We're also evacuating noncombat personnel, but it's slow going. We also have Varagarian units deploying in the base, and that's taking time as well.

"But what is her objective? Do we have any idea?"

"No clue," Aida replied. All of a sudden, they felt a slight jolt.

"What was that?" Burke shouted.

"The Ayanami type has breached the hatchway at Section C7." Lithgow declared. The monitor showed the twisted metal from the bulkhead, the enemy Ayanami stepping through the gash.

"How could she do that?" Shinji asked.

"She can produce an AT Field," Aida replied.

"Does that mean…" Shinji started to ask, shifting his eyes again to the Ayanami next to him, who was still watching the monitor in silence.

"No, she is an early model," Burke answered. "Current location of the enemy Ayanami type?"

"In section D2," Matsu replied, looking at his monitor. "The Varagarians have been engaging in hit and run attacks, trying to keep her busy."

"Any losses?" Aida asked.

"Fortunately no," Matsu replied.

"Very well. Have them try to lead her to D7. There'll be a nice surprise waiting for her there." For several minutes, they watched the running battle on the main monitor. They then saw her enter section D7.

"Okay then," Aida announced. "Are we ready Mr. Lithgow?"

"Yes we are," he answered. "All friendly forces have been evacuated. We're awaiting your word." Aida took a breath.

"Blow the block!" A button was pushed, and they saw sections of corridor explode one after the other, until the image went static, while at the same time, they were watching on Lithgow's monitor, a computer diagram of each section going out.

"It's done," Lithgow said.

"That'll leave a mess," Hood remarked. "Everyone in the city will see the smoke that's going to come up from that."

"Do you think we got her?" Burke asked Aida in a low voice.

"I don't think so," he replied at the same volume, "but we can always hope."

"Hope doesn't always produce results," Burke said.

"Bring up the entrance to section D8," Aida ordered Bertain. Within moments, the screen showed the entrance, smoke pouring through it. For a few moments, there was a tense silence. That tenseness was broken when Ayanami 02 stepped out, not looking too worse for wear. Groans and muttered curses came from several people in the room.

"Keep up our hit and runs, and get our next surprise ready," Aida ordered.

"They're not nicknamed Mary Sues for nothing," Hood said.

"Mary Sues?" Shinji asked.

"Oh, a nickname for the Advanced Model Ayanamis," Hood replied. "I don't know how it started, but it apparently comes from pop culture. Someone who is supposed to be practically invincible, and those Ayanami types are. "I've seen video where one deflected a tank shell that was fired at her with her AT Field."

"Wow," Shinji said. "Then how do you stop them?" As Hood was about to explain, Burke took a closer look at the main screen.

"Magnify her head," he said.

"Huh, you see something?" Hood asked as he walked over to him. Bertain did as ordered, magnifying a still image of the Ayanami, revealing a shiny glistening on her skin.

"She's sweating," Aida declared.

"Hot damn, we're making her sweat," Burke crowed. "Can we make her burn out?"

"We'll try," Aida replied. "We can throw more at her. The boys will love being able to shoot rockets at her."

"See to it," Burke said.

"And that is how you stop them," Hood told Shinji when he walked back over to him. "Make her use her AT Field until she exhausts herself."

"Where the hell is she going?" Aida halfed mumbled.

"I've been working that out sir," Bertain said. "I've had our systems compute some models for us."

"Great, What do you got?" Aida asked. Bertain began tapping on some keys, followed by a small corner of the main monitor going black for a few sections before being replaced by a line map of the base.

"Based on her current location, the layout of the base, and the general direction she is heading, there is only one reasonable place she could be heading to." All of them saw on the monitor a myriad of colored lines snaking down various corridors like a child drawing a line on a maze. Most of those lines ended up in one location.

"The Eva cages…" Hood said.

"Fucking hell," Burke muttered.

"Could she use it to start an Impact?" Shinji asked as he looked around to all of the adults.

"Not likely," Aida answered, "but if she gets into one, she could smash up this base, as well as the entire city. That would not be good." He then turned to Burke. "I recommend getting Units 10 and 11 out of here. If that's her objective, we should make every effort to deny her that."

"Agreed," Burke replied.

"Prep both Units to launch through the rail gates," Aida commanded. "Joanna, I want you to go to Unit 11 and launch with it."

"Huh? I thought that I…" she began.

"True, you won't be deploying to fight her unless she goes back out into the open, but I want you in that entry plug regardless. The reason is that if you're in, but we can't launch for some reason. You can lock yourself in and prevent her from claiming it. Maybe even get a chance to smack her against the wall or something. You understand?"

"Uh-Yeah," Joanna replied.

"Good. Shinji, go with her and make sure she's in that entry plug. I'll get someone to escort you there."

"Right," Shinji replied.

"What about me?" All of them turned towards Ayanami, who spoke for the first time since arriving.

"You'll stay here," Burke answered. "We don't want you getting shot by accident." He rubbed his chin for a quick moment before speaking again. "Designate the enemy as Ayanami 02, and the one here as Ayanami 01."

"Yes sir," Bertain replied.

"Unit 10 is ready to launch through rail gate 3," Lithgow declared.

"Launch it. Take it to the city wall and stop it there," Aida said. "And keep a sharp eye on it. For all we know, that's what they wanted us to do." A guard, armed with a submachine gun, entered the command center.

"Okay you two," Aida said when he caught sight of him. "Corporal Chen here will take you the cages. We'll try to stop her, or at least give you time."

"Right," Shinji replied.

"Get going then," Aida said. "As the corporal led them out of the center, Shinji looked back to them working before they went out the door.

"Are-Are you all right?" Joanna asked him

"Oh, I'm fine," Shinji answered. "I was just thinking about them back there."

"The people in the Command Center? I don't think you have to worry about them. It's the safest place on the whole base. They just sit back, and give their orders. Lucky dogs." Shinji mulled her words as they sounded familiar to him, but his thoughts were interrupted by the faint sound of gunfire.

"I don't think it's as simple as that," he said to her.

"Okay," Burke said when the door closed. "When is our next best chance to blow another block?"

"I believe it is H3," Aida replied, "but she is avout to enter G area, and we'll have a different type of surprise for her. They continued to watch her advance until she entered that point.

"All right," Aida said. "Activate the pillars!" They saw on the monitor small anti angel hex pillar pop out of the corridor walls, and began to glow.

"Are they working?" he asked Hood.

"All are functioning normally," Hood replied while looking at a readout, "though she still is dangerous."

"I know," Aida said, "But without her AT Field, it's more of a fair fight now." He turned to Bertain. "Order the Varagarians in. Take her out.

She had noticed the pillars coming out of the walls, but they did not give her cause for concern, yet at the same time, she was beginning to feel unusual. Connecting the two facts together, she began to run in order to escape from the pillars as soon as possible. As she was approaching an intersection of two corridors, several soldiers came around the corner and raised their weapons to open fire on her. She attempted to generate an AT Field, but found that she couldn't.

Ayanami 02 ran towards them at full speed, dodging as much of their fire as she could, though she was not completely successful as one bullet grazed her neck and another on her upper right arm. She reached the group and began to dispatch them, breaking bones, taking a pistol from one soldier and killing what she pointed at, kicking and smashing and killing unto no opposition remained.

She then leaned against the wall, breathing hard. She was tired and hurt, and uncertain how much longer she could hold out. Defeat was becoming inevitable. She even felt within her something she never felt before. It was making her continue to breathe hard, even though she was no longer expending energy, sweat pouring out of her, and what was most disconcerting, having no desire to continue her mission, to find a way to escape.

After a few seconds of quick thinking, the only concept that she could put this feeling under was fear. What did she fear? She had come close to death in the most recent encounter with the enemy. She did not want to experience anything like that. She wanted to continue existing. What she feared was nonexistence. Ayanami 02 began to regulate her breathing while repeating a mantra in her head over and over: There will be replacements, there will be replacements. Within moment, she calmed down, and now was able to make a clear assessment of the situation she found herself in. After she made bandages from the dead soldiers' uniforms and wrapped them around her wounds, she closed her eyes and brought up in her mind the layout of the base trying to find an alternate route. As she found her route, she heard footsteps in the distance. She then scanned the corridor, and found a ventilation shaft. She went over to it removed the cover and slid inside.

"Team 3 reports no contact with the enemy," Bertain said. "Only bodies."

"Shit, where did she go?" Burke muttered.

"Have them search for her and tell them to keep on their toes," Aida said. "Don't overlook anything."

"Yes sir," Bertain replied.

"She couldn't have just disappeared." Lithgow remarked.

"We'll find her," Aida replied.

"Sir, we have word from Team 3," Bertain said. "They found something. I'll bring up a body cam image." The monitor then showed an image of an open vent with specks of blood surrounding the opening."

"That is not good," Burke said. "We have no cameras in the vents."

"That may be true sir, but that doesn't mean she dissappeared," Matsu said. "If we're going on the assumption that her destination is the Eva cages, it would be easy to calculate where she is and what route she is taking."

"Do it," Aida ordered. "Have the security teams and Varagarians peek into the vents. Look for blood or any other trace of her.

"Got it," he replied. Aida then noticed the Ayanami that they had staring at the monitor he went over to her, and began talking.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I am fine," she answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I just thought that it would seem…uncanny to you to see a copy of you up on the monitor there. I…just wanted to know how you felt about that."

"I don't feel anything like you described," she said. "I know she is genetically similar to myself, but she is who she is, and I am myself. I am not her."

"I see," Aida said. "I asked because…well, it seems unreal to me, having her here. To be honest with you, I felt the same way when I first saw you." Ayanami turned her head towards him.

"Did you know the one that I've heard Ikari talk about?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did," Aida replied, "but we really didn't talk or anything. "I've talked longer with you just now, than I had with her, and we were in the same class together in school."

"Is that so?" Ayanami said.

"But still, these final few months after Shinji arrived in Tokyo 3, I noticed a change in her. She seemed...more friendly, like she wanted to interact with all of us. I like to think that the same thing is happening with you too." She did not reply as both of them turned back to the main monitor,nNeither of them talked as they watched the images rotating on a constant basis to several different areas on the lookout.

"Got something," Lithgow yelled out. The monitor settled on a live image of Ayanami 02 climbing out of a vent.

"Where is she?" Aida asked.

"Section F12," Bertain answered.

"She retreated?" Hood said. "What did she do that for?"

"No clue," Aida replied. "Matsu, what's in that section?"

"Not that much," he replied. "Computer room 4 is in the vicinity, along with some storage areas and direct access to cafeteria kitchens."

"Is she hungry or something?" Lithgow asked in a light tone.

"All sarcasm aside, we'll need to stop her," Burke said. "Major, would you agree with me that we do have the upper hand here?"

"It would appear so, but that could change in an instant," Aida replied. "I already have intercept teams on the way.

"Very well," Burke said. They watched her walk into the computer room.

"What does she need to go there for?" Lithgow asked.

"Can we see into the room?" Aida asked.

"Bringing it up," Bertain replied. Seconds later, the image on the main monitor was replaced with static.

"Looks like she destroyed the camera," Burke said.

"The teams have arrived, and they want to report in," Bertain said.

"Put them through," Aida said. On the screen, a solider appeared.

"We can't get into the room sir," he said.

"Why not?" Burke yelled out. "How is she stopping you?"

"She… locked the door," The soldier replied.

"Huh?" Burke said before mumbling to himself something about elite soldiers.

"Blow the door," Aida said. "She already destroyed a couple. We can order one more."

"Yes sir," the soldier said.

"Can she escape from there?" Aida asked. Lithgow tapped a few keys.

"No sir, There are no secondary access points large enough for a person to get through."

"Have the general area surrounded," Aida ordered. "We have to be prepared for anything." Both Aida and Burke then noticed Hood accessing information from another terminal.

"Something on your mind Sam?" Burke asked.

"Just looking through what information we have on the advanced models," Hood replied. "Did you know that they have been estimated IQ of around 200? I mean, if Advanced Model Ayanami types are as intelligent as we believe them to be, she must have had a good reason to go into that room, and I'm afraid that-" A small alarm began to chirp from Matsu's station.

"Sir, someone's trying to access our systems," he said. "I can't tell who."

"What?" Burke yelled as Hood rushed over to where Matsu was.

"Put the system in defense mode, and begin opening decoy entries. Start a trace," he said to both Matsu and Lithgow.

"A second attack?" Aida asked as he headed to the station as well. "Was she only a diversion?"

"Decoy entry has been avoided," Matsu said. "Opening another."

"How long before we know who's doing this?" Burke asked.

"Fifteen seconds," Lithgow answered.

"Setting up a secondary barrier," Matsu declared.

"Demolition team has arrived at the computer room," Bertain announced. "They're setting the charges."

"Understood," Aida replied.

"Deploying emergency firewall," Matsu said as the cyberbattle continued. "Firewall has been penetrated. Opening another false entry."

"Trace complete," Lithgow said. "The hacker is in this facility."

"Where?" Burke yelled out.

"I think I have an idea," Hood stated.

"It's coming from Computer Room 4!" Lithgow declared.

"What!" Burke almost fell back.

"Figured," Hood remarked to himself.

"Can the main cable be severed?" Aida asked.

"It won't accept the command," Matsu replied. "I'm opening another decoy…Shit! We're being blocked.

"Demolition teams are reporting back. They're ready," Bertain said.

"Blow the damn thing open," Burke ordered. "Take that bitch out." Within seconds, the monitor showed an explosion ripping the door open. Seconds after that, they saw the Varagarians charge in, followed by some of them being thrown out of the door seconds afterwards.

"She's starting to access our main systems," Lithgow shouted.

"What does she have have access to?" Hood asked. Lithgow did a quick check.

"We're in trouble," he said. "Life support, the self destruct system, power, the weapons systems."

"She could destroy just us, or she could waste the entire city with our weapons," Burke said.

"Can we change synchronization code to every ten seconds, try to slow her down?" Hood asked.

"Trying sir," Matsu replied. Another alarm then sounded in the room.

"Power's gone out in sections B7-C4," Bertain announced. "I don't know—" She stopped for a second, before reviewing in an increased panic. "Now it's in sections D8-F22!" One one of Bertain's screens, they could see sections of the base go out one by one. They then felt a rumbling explosion,

"The block at H4 has detonated!" Bertain shouted. "There were fifty people in that area."

"She's testing to she what she can do," Hood said. Both he and Aida turned to Burke, who spoke after a few seconds.

"Are we still able to shut down the I/O system," he asked in a soft voice.

"We can," Hood replied.

"Then do it."

"We'd be completely defenseless," Aida protested.

"Tell me, how is that worse than what we have now?" Burke countered, to which Aida had no reply. "Do it Sam, before we're blown to kingdom come."

"Right." Seconds later, the main monitor went blank, and only a few of the station screens remained active.

"Now what do we do?" Aida asked.

"Begin diagnostics, and try to regain control," Hood replied. "Once she realizes the systems are shut down, she'll probably leave the room. "There is still power in that section when we shut down, so if I can get some people down there, she what she did up close, we should be able to bring systems on line."

"Get to it," Burke replied, "because at this moment, this base is Nerv's for the taking."

In the eerie redness created by the emergency lights, confusion reigned as a mass of men ran in one direction or the other, some charged into the fight or some running for their lives, calling for backup on radios that no longer worked. From time to time flashes of gunfire lit the corridors, bringing everything clear for a brief second or two. Anyone would see when there was enough light was the look of panic on the men's faces, and for many, they could see no light as the Ayanami had dispelled them as she resumed her advance.

"What happened?" Shinji asked as he surveyed the corridors, which were now bathed in the warm red glow of the emergency lights."

"No idea," Corporal Chen replied as he looked around as well. "I'll ask command, see if we need to return." He tried to call on his radio several times, but received no answer.

"Huh, this outage must be pretty bad if the com systems are down, and at the worse possible time too."

"Then what do we do?" Joanna asked.

"We continue on," the Corporal replied. "I'm supposed to get you two to where Unit 11 is. At the very least, there are some hard line phones in some of these corridors. They're guaranteed to work. We can confirm what to do then." The three continued to walk on. When they approached a hatchway, both Shinji and Chen opened it manually, the corporal explaining that the hatchways still work. After they had to do that two more times, they came upon two soldiers running towards them. Shinji knew they had some special name, Vara-something or other, but he couldn't remember.

"What's going on?" Chen called out to them. The two stopped, having the look of complete panic on their face.

"It's real bad," one of them replied. "Somehow the power went out, and she went on a rampage. He and I are all that's left of our platoon."

"Where is she now?" the corporal asked.

"Hell if we know," the other one answered. "None of us have been in this facility before, and even with the emergency lights, we really can't tell."

"It didn't help that we were running for our lives either," the first added. "She could have gone somewhere else, or she could be right behind us." Chen cursed under his breath.

"Well, I need to get these two to the Eva cages," he said as he pointed to both Shinji and Joanna. "You're welcome to come along, as I know the way. We'll get a better assessment when we get there. Besides, if she's close, I'm going to need all the help I can get."

"I don't know any better ideas, so why not," The first said. They proceeded on the corporal leading the way, with Shinji and Joanna in the middle, and the two Varagarians bringing up the rear.

Misato stepped out of her bathroom, making final adjustments to her hair. She then tugged at various places on the shirt and jeans she was wearing, making sure she neat and proper, reflecting on the fact that it could be a joy to wear civilian clothes. She knew that she didn't wear them as often as she did back in her Nerv days, so in a sense, the time away from the ship was a good thing. She was aware that this could be the last full day before she and the ship would be back in action, and she had to make the most of it.

"Miyoko, we're going to be late," she yelled out in the direction of her daughter's bedroom.

"I'm going as fast as I can," Miyoko's voice drifted from her room, followed by her head sticking out of the doorway a moment later.

"We still have plenty of time," she said with a cross look on her face.

"The show starts at 2:15," Misato said, "and we have to fit in a couple of places before then."

"I know," Miyoko shot back, her voice raising in volume with each word. "Just give me another minute," she added before her head darted back into her room.

"It's always another minute with you," Misato mumbled. She walked around the living room in a combined state of annoyance and boredom. Her cell phone then began to ring, and seeing that it was Hyuga, who was on Bridge duty at that moment, was calling, she picked it up.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Captain, we have been monitoring some unusual communications from the tower," he said.

"Unusual? What do you mean?"

"Well Ma'am, we've been keeping an open channel with them for coordination purposes when it appears they sounded an intruder alert. A few minutes later, they then sounded a general battle alert, though there was no order for us to scramble. Varagarian units had also been called into the facility. After a short while, nothing."

"Nothing?" Misato asked.

"No communication from the tower. We tried to raise them, but no response."

"That does seem…" she trailed off as she approached the window. She noticed smoke coming from the direction of the tower.

"Do you see this?" Misato asked.

"We do Captain," Hyuga replied. We can't tell from here whether it's from there or from somewhere else in the city. She saw that the smoke was coming from the tower premises.

"Okay, I'm ready," Miyoko said as she entered the living room.

"Hold on a minute," her mother told her.

"What! You make me rush, and now—" Miyoko began.

"I said hold on!" Miyoko could tell from the tone that something is wrong. She walked over to where her Mom was and looked out of the window.

"Is that coming from the tower?" she asked.

"Yeah," Misato replied. They saw another small explosion come up from the complex.

"Isn-Isn't Shinji and that girl in that building?" Miyoko asked. Misato didn't answer, instead telling Hyuga to standby before walking over to the apartment's phone and dialing. She stood there for a few moments listening before she hung up.

"It's automatic voice message. That shouldn't be happening." She said as she went over to her computer.

"Mom…" Miyoko said, the worry apparent in her voice. Misato tapped on the keys for a minute before she spoke again.

"Everything seems to be down, Something is very wrong."

"What's happening?" Miyoko asked.

"Hyuga, call for battle stations, and standby to receive us." She said.

"Yes ma'am. "Everything will be ready."

"Good," she said. "I'll contact you in ten." She then snapped her phone shut before turning to her daughter.

"I'm afraid that I can't go to the movie with you," she said as she began typing again. "In fact, I have a feeling the movie's going to be canceled anyway. As she accessed the appropriate files and putting in commands and access code, she was more than aware that she would be interfering with family meals, naps, and probably several cases of bedroom fun, but it was necessary.

"First time for everything," She mumbled as she entered the final authorization codes and pressed the enter key. Within seconds, alarms began to blare along with a computerized voice.

"Emergency deployment. All Wunder personnel report to your assigned stations!" it declared, repeating the message every thirty seconds.

"Miyoko, I want you to go with the other families to the shelter, like we talked about," Misato said as she ran over her closet and grabbed her uniform jacket and hat. "Take what you need and go."

"Right," Miyoko said. "Good luck…" Misato walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"Love you too honey. See you soon," she said before heading out the door.

She was heading down the hallway at a full run, seeing other members of the crew leave their apartments struggling to get coats around them and putting shoes on their feet. She saw Aoba speak to another man who was holding a toddler from his apartment as she went past him. A few seconds later, she noticed him running right beside her.

"Did you see the Vice-Captain?" she asked him.

"She went past me about thirty seconds before you did," Aoba answered. "There were droplets of soapy water flying off her head. What's going on?"

"The Tower appears to be under attack," Misato said. "I have no clue on the details, but we have to be ready for anything. We'll need to launch right away. Hyuga's already been informed."

"Yes, Captain," Aoba replied. As they approached the special train that would take them to the ship, all she could do was hope that everyone there would be all right.

"Shinji," she muttered to herself as she boarded the train.

After a short while of walking and going through a couple of hatchways, the group came to a sudden halt by Chen who signaled for them to stop.

"What is—" Shinji began to ask, but the corporal signaled silence.

"I heard something," he whispered, but still loud enough for everyone to hear him. In the silence, they could hear a set of slow and steady footsteps walking through the corridors, and it seemed, at least to Shinji, that they sounded as if they were coming towards them.

"Could it be a good guy, like those two?" Joanna thumbed towards the two soldiers.

"Could be, but we need to make sure." Chen then signaled to the soldiers who came up next to him. The three of them went over to the next corner, and peeked out. After a few seconds, they rushed back to where they left Shinji and Joanna.

"She's here," one of the soldiers hissed at them. Joanna brought her hands over her mouth, and looked like she was about to cry.

"What do we do?" Shinji asked. Chen pointed right past him.

"You take her and get to the cages," he answered. "We're almost there. It's a straight shot, just keep going in that direction."

"And what are you guys going to do?" Shinji guessed the answer, but he wanted to hear it from him.

"We'll buy you time," the corporal answered. "We can't stop her, but we'll slow her down for you. Just get her there."

"But that mean you'll…" Joanna couldn't finish the words. The corporal put his hand on her shoulder, though Shinji could see that it was trembling a little.

"We'll try to lead her away, so it'll give you guys more time," he replied. "We're not planning to die or anything, so you worry about that." Shinji saw his trembling increase, making him wonder if Joanna believed the words he said.

"He's right," one of the soldiers added. "You head on over there."

"Okay," she said.

"Now that they matter has been settled, shall we get started?" the corporal asked. All of them could the footsteps getting closer. One of the soldiers took out a hand grenade and pulled the pin with one hand while keeping a firm grip on the handle with the other.

"When we throw the grenade, you two run like hell to the cages. Got it?" Both Shinji and Joanna nodded.

"Okay then," Chen turned to the solider holding the grenade. "On three…." The soldier prepared to throw. "Three!" The solider threw the grenade while Shinji and Joanna bolted away from them. The two runners heard the explosion followed by a barrage of automatic fire. Seconds latter, the two heard the gunfire stop and a blood curdling scream filled the air. Joanna stopped running and turned around.

"Come on!" Shinji commanded, grabbing her arm, and dragging her back into a run. He soon got to full speed, though Joanna had a hard time keeping up as he was still holding her by the hand. They approached a doorway, which Shinji with a struggle, began to open. Joanna looked back, and thought she saw a shadow move closer to them.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry." She kept repeating in a whispering voice.

"Trying to," Shinji replied as he forced the door open. They rushed to the other side, Shinji closing the door behind them. They began to run again, and not even thirty seconds had passed when they heard an explosion behind them.

"Faster!" Shinji told Joanna, not caring to whisper any longer.

"Going as fast as I can," she replied in between huge breaths. They reached another hatchway, both of them helping to open it, and once it was opened, continuing on without bothering to close it. From time to time, Shinji looked back, some of those times, he saw something, or thought he did. The two then saw another hatchway, this time with two sentries in front of it. One of the guards raised his rifle at them, but was stopped by the other.

"It's the kids," he told him as they arrived.

"She's right behind us!" Joanna yelled. The four quickly got inside, shutting the door behind them. As they were catching their breath, they saw a silhouette of Unit 11 nearby.

"Great, you guys are here," one of the technicians said as he came over. "This way." As the three were making their way over to the Eva, they saw soldiers and guards rushing around them, and forming a defensive line near the hatchway where they came in.

"I'll be brief," the technician began. "Some power has been restored, and we're using it to send Unit 11 on it's way. Once you're gone little lady, everyone is getting the hell out of here." He took out a pair of neural connectors out of his pocket, and handed them to Joanna. "No time to put on your plug suit, but be sure to attach these on your head.

"Right," Joanna replied as she put them on. The three arrived and the technician pushed a few buttons to release the entry plug.

"Your chariot awaits m'lady," he said.

"Okay," Shinji replied before turning to Joanna. "It's time to go," he said to her.

"But what about you?" She asked.

"I'll be fine," he replied. "Now climb aboard." He said those last words at a faster pace to move her along.

"I could take you with me," she said. "There's enough room in the entry plug."

"It'll only screw up your synch rate." His voice was sounding more frustrated. "I'll leave with them. There's no more time now. You have to-"

"I-I could hold you in the Eva's hand—" At that point, Shinji grabbed her by the shoulders, and said the next words in English to get his point across.

"Get in the fucking—" He couldn't finish as the door blew apart, spreading fragments all over the chamber. As the soldiers began to fire towards the gapping hole, Shinji swooped up Joanna, who gave a little shriek as the suddenness of his action, and laid her in the entry plug. Before she could say anything to him, he closed the hatch.

"She's in!" he yelled at the technician, who was at the control panel. He pushed a few buttons, and the trolley began to move away. Shinji watched it go for a few seconds, before turning around, only to find that from across the chamber, he found the Ayanami type staring right at him.


	20. Chapter 20

Both Shinji and the enemy Ayanami faced each other with no more than fifty feet separating the two of them. Shinji wondered what she could be thinking as they were looking at each other, if she had any other thoughts besides what was put into her by his fa…no, Gendo. He couldn't tell if she even knew who he was. He saw her look around in several directions for a few seconds before she began to walk towards him. He in turn stepped backwards for several paces before before his back was against the wall.

Ayanami 02 continued her advance, getting closer to him with each step. Seconds later, she was sprayed with a hail of machine gun fire. Though her AT Field prevented her from taking any injury, it was enough of a distraction to stop her advance.

"What are you standing there for?" he heard the technician yell at him. "Get your ass over here!" Shinji bolted towards him and the other soldiers as well as others carrying arms, keeping constant fire on their target, and only stopping when he reached them.

"Everyone clear back," One of the Varagarians yelled as he aimed at Ayanami 02 with a rocket launcher. Less than a second later he fired, the rocket hitting her dead on.

"Let's go!" the Varagarian yelled, dropping the weapon. Shinji and everyone else in that room ran as fast as they could out. The smoke cleared, and the Ayanami remained untouched. Looking around to find that the room was abandoned. She then began to follow the direction of their retreat.

"Take this," the technician handed Shinji a pistol as they were running. "There's a full clip in there. It's cocked with the safety on."

"Huh? Why are you giving this to me?" Shinji asked. "I don't know how to shoot."

"In case she is following us," the tech replied. "You need to be able to defend yourself. Besides, it's easy. Just aim and pull the trigger."

"With this?" Shinji asked.

"It's better than nothing," the tech replied. "There are times when you just have to go out swinging."

"Here's another one!" a nurse cried out before grabbing a wounded solider who had walked in and helping him into the makeshift triage center that was set up in the hospital's main lobby.

"Patch him up and get him moving," the lead doctor, Colonel Rachel McFadden, said after taking a look at the man's wounds. As the nurses began to work on him, Sakura approached her.

"Lieutenant, I thought I sent you with the walking wounded," McFadden said as she brushed away a few strands of her auborn hair.

"You did Ma'am," Sakura replied. "A second triage center has been set up in a parking garage outside the base where they're being treated. Once the patients were secure, I returned here for further orders."

"Well, I don't see why you would do that," McFadden replied. "We're about to pull out ourselves."

"So what would you need me to do?" Sakura asked.

"I would like one more sweep of the facility before we evacuate," she answered, "but there isn't enough people."

"I can help with that," Sakura said.

"The problem is that you have no clue where you need to go or where in the base you are, especially where there is no power. I don't want you getting lost."

"I know Colonel," Sakura replied. "But as I was coming in, I've been hearing from people who had been out there there are still many injured out there." McFadden let out a puff of air as she thought about the matter.

"Very well. Go out there and do what you can, but you're not going alone." She turned towards a group of nurses. "Chapel!"

"Yes Ma'am." A young male nurse stepped forward from the group.

"You'll be going with her on your assinged route," the Colonel pointed her thumb at Sakura. "Make sure she gets back here safely."

"Understood Colonel," Chapel replied before turning to Sakura. "If you would follow me." The two then went out with the other teams into the dark.

"Captain on the bridge!" Hyuga yelled as both Misato an Aboa ran into the chamber.

"Transfer to the battle bridge and prepare to launch," she ordered as both of them jumped onto their stations, their respective branches moving into position before the whole apparatus began to move up the Hirnstamm tower into the upper chamber.

"I saw the smoke on the train ride here," Ritsuko said, her hair still damp and matted. "Are we looking at a direct attack on the Tower?" Misato nodded.

"Until we know for sure, we have to go on the assumption that the leadership there is decapitated in some form," she stated. "We'll fly there and ascertain what the situation is, though I can make a few guesses to what we're dealing with." The bridge structure came into place and initialization began, the 360 degree screen lighting up and showing the outside world around them.

"Extend the wings and bring the main engines on line," Misato ordered. "Aoba, inform the control tower, tell them we're making and emergency liftoff."

"Right," he replied.

"We should have Asuka and Mari prepare to deploy as well," Ritsuko said.

"See to it," Misato replied.

"We got word from the control tower, we're clear for launch," Aoba reported.

"Main engines are on line," Koji added. "We're ready to lift off."

"Acknowledge," Misato replied. She took one breath before she spoke again. "Up ship!" Seconds later, the crew felt a slight lurch as the ship began to ascend. "Once we have significant altitude, set course for the tower and take us in slow."

"Roger." Nagara turned the ship towards the city, and began to make it's way to the center.

"Aoba, Contact the city government, have them evacuate the 1st ring as a precaution. Hyuga, I want a full scan of the area. Tell me if you see anything."

"Right," Hyuga replied as he started making the scans. "Nothing out of the ordinary, but I can also see that they launched Unit 10."

"Bring it up on the main viewer," Misato said. The crew saw that it was still laying on its trolley.

"I can confirm that the Unit isn't activated and there's no pilot on board," Hyuga said.

"They must have evacuated it as a precaution," Ritsuko said.

"Can you confirm Unit 11?" Misato asked.

"Checking," Hyuga said. "It's on the other side of the city, and it is manned and active. I'll bring it up." The ship's monitor showed the Eva getting up, and begin to walk towards the base.

"Contact the pilot immediately," Misato ordered. "Ritz, can you receive telemetry from the Unit?"

"We'll have it in about a minute," Ritsuko replied as she was hunched over her terminal.

"We have an open channel with the Eva," Aoba declared. Misato's personal monitor activated showing a black screen with 'Unit 11 Sound Only' in red letters.

"Pilot, do you read me?" she asked. A few seconds of silence was followed by an answer.

"Oh, Uh, yeah. I'm here," Joanna's voice rang clear throughout the bridge.

"This is Captain Katsuragi of the Wunder," Misato said. "Report on what you know Ms…" she tapped her head with her finger for a second trying to bring up the name in her head, "Kingston."

"I-I barely got out of there," Joanna began. "She's a monster."

"She? Monster?" Misato asked. "Are you talking about an Ayanami type?"

"Yeah, but it is not the one I have been hanging out with," Joanna replied. "It's supposed to be some special model. Dr. Hood called them Mary Sues or something weird like that."

"An advanced model," Ritsuko muttered. "That's what we're dealing with."

"I understand. Put your Eva in minimal activity mode and standby. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious, no matter how small or insignificant it could be. We'll send out our Evas as well to back you up." She then signaled to Ritsuko to give the launch order.

"Roger," Joanna replied. "I sure hope everyone's okay. It was crazy, with all the explosions and shooting. I mean Shinji even threw me into the entry plug to get me out of there. I-I hope he made it out." Misato opened her mouth to speak, closed it for a second, and then spoke.

"I'm sure he got out of there as soon as you launched. He's probably out of the complex as we speak."

"If you say so," Joanna said.

"Good. Katsuragi out." After the channel closed, Ritsuko walked up to her and leaned to her ear.

"Was it a good idea for you to lie like that?" she half-whispered.

"We need to keep her focused on her mission," she replied. "Besides, I didn't lie to her. He could have made it out and he is safe right now." Ritsuko took a long look at her.

"I never thought you'd be one to engage in semantics," she said. "Makes me wonder to whom those words were for. I'll be monitoring the Evas." As she went away, Misato turned her attention back to her crew.

"Have you made contact with the tower itself?" she asked.

"Not yet," Aoba replied. "We are picking up some radio traffic from the area at different frequencies. They may have set up a series of two way systems in order to communicate.

"Try and listen in, and see who's talking to who. That might be our only way in short of going down there ourselves."

"Sam, tell me something good," Burke said into a two way radio.

"I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed." Hood's voice sounded somewhat garbled through the radio. "She smashed all the terminals in here. We're trying to connect to the network through a laptop we brought, but it's going to take some time. Who knows if she has some booby traps waiting for us when we get in."

"Do what you can. Over and out." Burke set the radio down alongside several others, pieces of masking tape stuck to them that had the names of various people written on them, and sat down in a chair, hunched over in exhaustion for a minute before Bertain approached him.

"Sir, here is a list of sections where power has been manually restored," she said as she handed him a handwritten list.

"Thank you," he said to her as he did a quick read through. "Do we have any idea where the enemy Ayanami is?" She looked at another piece of paper for the answer.

"Uh...No sir, but we haven't established communications with all security personnel and Varagarians yet. Of those we do, they have reported hearing sporadic bursts of gunfire from time to time."

"That tells us nothing," Burke said sounding exhausted. "For all we know, she could be right outside the command center here, and we wouldn't know it."

"With the Varagarians covering the exits, I doubt that's the case. Besides, I don't believe resorting to hyperbole will help the situation any sir," Bertain said.

"Maybe you're right," Burke said. "It's just that we can't really do anything to stop her right now, and I don't like it."

"I understand sir, but we are taking steps to remedy that. Colonel Aida has gone out to see what he can do."

"I know," Burke replied. One of the radios then began to chirp. Seeing that it was from one of the outside sentries, he picked it up.

"Yes, what is it?" Burke asked.

"Sir, this is Sargent Ouamouno. You're not going to believe this, but the Wunder is flying towards us," Burke jumped up.

"Is it sending any signals? Lights, flags, anything that suggests they're trying to communicate?"

"None that I can tell sir," Ouamouno replied.

"Keep an eye on them and report and report any unusual activity," Burke ordered.

"Yes sir," the Sergeant said. Burke pulled out his phone, seeing that it still had no bars on it.

"Damn," he muttered before putting it away, though he couldn't help but have a small smile on his face. "Yet, this does change everything," he declared. "I know it'll be a bit of a workout, but if we can get a couple of people up on top of the tower—" An unfamiliar voice then began talking through one of the radios.

"Can anyone hear me?" the voice said in English. "This is Lieutenant Commander Shigeru Aoba of the Wunder. Please respond." The message began to repeat itself in Japanese. Burke swiped the radio as fast as he could.

"This is Vice Commander Burke," he shouted into the radio. "We read you Wunder."

"Captain, we got them!" The two heard Aoba yell. A few seconds later, they heard another voice come through.

"This is Captain Katsuragi. I'm glad to hear you're all right."

"And I'm glad to hear your voice," Burke replied.

"Joanna told us what happened," Misato continued. "What's your situation?"

"Our systems are down, we have taken massive casualties, and she's still out there with no effective way to counter her. What control we do have right now is more focused on getting as many wounded and noncombat personnel evacuated as we can, along with restoring our systems. Are you thinking of bringing your people down here?"

"Not until you guys have a better handle of the situation, and we'll do what we can from here to help you with that."

"That sounds like a plan. We'll inform our people about you guys," Burke said. "However, we have to prepare for the worse possible situation."

"What's that?" Misato asked.

"We got out Evas out, but we also can't let her run free like this," he said. "If things get bad; like the Command Center destroyed, or if I give the order, you must destroy this facility, even down to the sub-levels." Several seconds of silence followed those words.

"I understand, but I hope it doesn't come to that," Misato said.

"Same here," Burke agreed. "I mean, I have a nice office here if I do say so myself." A small chuckle came over the radio.

"Very well. We will proceed with our action."

"Thank you." Burke laid down the radio, and picked up another one, standing up from his chair in the process.

"Ken, do you read me?" he said into the radio.

"I hear you. What's up?" he asked.

"The Wunder's right above us," Burke said with a grin on his face. "I think we can finally turn this around." He began to look around the Command Center. "Can you try to rally the troops?" When he looked over the chamber a couple of times, his grin began to disappear.

"That's what I'm trying to do," Aida replied. "We've been able to establish communication with enough units to set up a defensive perimeter, but I don't know if we're organized enough to launch an effective counterattack."

"Maybe we can get the Wunder to help us with that part. We'll see what we can come up here," Burke said. "One more thing."

"What is it?"

"Is the Ayanami that we have with you?" Burke asked.

"No, I wouldn't have taken her or let her come with me. Why do you ask?"

"Because it looks like she's no longer with us."

Misato turned from the communications terminal, and looked upon the image of the tower for a few seconds.

"Helm, take us up to 2500 meters," she ordered.

"2500, aye." Sagura replied adjusting the controls.

"Aoba, continue to monitor communications, try and see of we can act as a communication hub, help them coordinate down there."

"Right," Aoba said.

"Kitinkami, began scans of the facility, using infrared," Ritsuko added. "Focus on lone figures. If we can try to cross reference those images with any blood type blue readings, we may be able to find her so they can finish the job."

"Uh…right," she replied as she began to push buttons.

"Hyuga, bring the weapons systems on line and plot a firing solution on the base. Calculate the best firing pattern for maximum destruction and standby."

"Ma'am?" Hyuga asked. She then turned to him.

"The weapons systems have been repaired, haven't they?" she asked.

"Yes Captain, they have," he answered.

"Then please plot the solution," Misato said. As Hyuga did as he was told, Ritsuko spoke to her.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"We now wait," she said. "I don't like it, but it's the only thing we can do now."

Joanna was bringing up screens along the sides of the entry plug, those screens showing the main exits of the base, seeing people running out or where the wounded were being where the triage center was. She glanced up on the monitor for a second and saw the Wunder floating in the air. A quick glance at one of the screens showed a map of the base with three dots signifying her Eva along with Units 01 and 08. With those sights, she hoped it meant everything was now okay, that everyone she knew was going to be okay. She shifted her eyes from one screen to another, trying to keep a constant eye on everything. This continued for a couple of minutes until she heard an unsettling yet cheeky female voice speak through her communications systems.

"Heads up!" She yelled as an alert told her a high velocity object was heading towards her at the same time. She moved the Eva a couple steps back followed by a large box striking the ground. When the dust cleared, the box opened revealing a handgun.

"That's for you," the voice said. "If we're in battle and you need some heaver shit, we'll provide."

"Uh, thanks," Joanna guided the Eva to pick up the pistol, which when she grabbed the handle, automatically configured the weapon to its systems, bringing up a targeting system right in front of her.

"I bet that this is exciting for you," the voice continued. "From what I heard, this is your first deployment."

"Uh, well, I wouldn't call it exciting," Joanna said as she continued watching the screens.

"That's a shame," the voice said.

"It is what it is," Joanna replied. "I'm sorry, but I did get your name."

"Mari," she answered. "We met in person a week ago, though I'll admit I was not in the mood for pleasant conversation at the time."

"Yeah, well, that's fine," Joanna said as she continued her watching. "Could you please not bother me right now." There was silence for a brief few seconds before a screen came up floating right in front of her face.

"Whatcha doing?" she asked. Joanna didn't reply, instead wiping the screen in front of her. A few seconds later, her image appeared again, this time showing up on Joanna's right on the entry plug.

"Ooh, your plug looks much clean-" Joanna closed the channel again, only for it to reappear, this time on her left.

"You know, this is getting annoying," Mari said.

"I agree," Joanna replied, closing the channel once again. Several seconds of silence passed before being broken by Mari's voice only.

"I saw what you had on those screens you have." She sounded more subdued.

"Well, y-you never know if she comes out," Joanna replied. "I-I could just step on her." She heard Mari chuckle at that last comment.

"Are you sure that isn't the only reason you're trying to cover all these places?" Mari asked.

"W-what do you mean?" Joanna asked.

"What I mean Ms. Frizzle is that you're looking for him right?"

"W-Well, I mean, he could come out, and things were chaotic in there, and-" She sounded as is she was about the cry, and she was taking huge gasps of air in between her words.

"Hold it," Mari commanded. Joanna stopped talking, but her rapid breathing continued.

"Take a deep breath in," she said. Joanna took a long breath and held it.

"Breathe out." Joanna let out the breath.

"Breathe in," She inhaled again, "breathe out." She exhaled.

"Feel better?" Mari then asked.

"Not really," Joanna replied.

"But you do feel calmer, right?" Mari said.

"A-A little," Joanna answered.

"Good." A few seconds passed before Mari appeared on a floating screen in front of her.

"There's nothing wrong with hoping for the best, but you learn pretty quick in this business that there are some things you just can't control, so there's no use in worrying about them. Do you understand?"

"Yeah…" Joanna let out a short breath, and looked down towards her feet.

"If you want my opinion," Mari continued, "I've heard of him surviving worse, so I think he'll be okay." Joanna smiled and was about to thank her when an unpleasant voice sounding voice came over the com.

"What the hell are you two have a closed line for?" the voice demanded.

"Ease up on the yelling Princess. Joanna and I were discussing the situation at hand," Mari replied.

"Then keep it on an open channel," Asuka shot back. "Okay rookie, take your position here." On the screen showing the map of the facility, Joanna saw one of them blinking to indicate where she was supposed to be.

"Oh, Uh, Yeah, roger," Joanna replied.

"Just say 'roger,'" Asuka said. "Keep a clear eye out for anything unusual. From what I heard, the city's defenses are down. The Ayanami type may be a diversion while the main attack could still be coming."

"Sure thing," Mari replied. "I would suggest that we also keep on the exits to the base and where the evacuees are meeting up. You know, just to see if they need help or something."

"Might be a good idea," Asuka said. "Each of you keep an eye of your side of things. I'll contact the Wunder, see of they can cover the places we can't."

"Thanks a peach," Mari said before signing off. Joanna moved Unit 11 to her assigned position, and set up her monitors, reminding herself to thank Mari when this was over. Joanna knew she was right, but she still couldn't help but worry for her friend.

Shinji leaned against a wall, which he then slid down against to the floor trying to catch his breath, sweat covering his brow, which he wiped off with the sleeve from his jacket.

"You can't be tired," one of the men he was running with said as he sat right beside him. "You're a lot younger than a lot of us."

"After all that running, I don't feel that young," Shinji replied with a chuckle of his own. The man smiled for a quick second before resuming a serious demeanor.

"Do you think we got away from her?" he asked Shinji.

"I don't know," he replied. "I was so busy running, I didn't think to see where we were."

"Shit, I don't even know where the hell we're going, and I work here," the man declared. "We need to find a way out of this place."

"But what can we do?" Shinji asked.

"I don't know, but we have to do something," the man replied. "I can't run forever, and I'm sure a lot of people here can't either." He laid his head on his knees to rest.

Shinji gave himself a few minutes to rest as well before getting up to walk around. He saw the people he was running with; soldiers, technicians, and other people. They were sitting or laying down on the floor, and some were leaning against the wall, getting what rest they could. It was quiet, no noise, just silence as they all were too tired. He then heard footsteps from a distance. He began to walk towards the sound, one hand on the butt of his pistol. Getting closer, he could tell that it was two sets of footsteps as well as some indistinct talking. Relieved, he began to walk towards the sound.

"Damn, it's so quiet," Chapel said as he shined his flashlight on one of the corridor walls. "I don't think anyone is down here."

"We can't be too sure," Sakura countered. "We have to keep searching."

"But you heard what those two Varagarians we passed said, they said a general evacuation was ordered," Chapel stated. "Hell, they heard rumors that the Wunder is flying above us and that they're going to destroy the entire base."

"I can see the Wunder being up there," Sakura replied, "but I can't see them destroying the entire facility. And as you said, they are only rumors."

"I'm only saying what I heard," Chapel said. "May I also point out that that we have not seen any wounded. We haven't seen any dead even." Sakura sighed.

"I guess you have a point there," she said. "We'll go a little bit farther before we turn back."

"If you say so," Chapel said. "I'll also add that I always wanted to walk with a pretty girl, I just didn't think that it'd be under these circumstances." Sakura didn't reply, she only rolled her eyes. After going a bit farther, the two then heard footsteps coming towards them.

"You hear that?" Sakura asked.

"I did," Chapel answered as he got in front of her, signaling to stay behind him. "Be ready to run." They approached an upcoming corner as careful as they could. Chapel peered over, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's all right," he said to her before turning to the other person. "Come on up." A smattering of footsteps could be heard coming towards them. Shinji then turned the corner, where Sakura ran up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"You're alive!" she exclaimed. "But I thought you had evacuated."

"No, I had to escort Joanna to Unit 11," Shinji replied, "but that Ayanami busted in as she was launching, we barely made it out alive."

"Yeesh, you're damn lucky," Chapel replied. "Where is she now?'

"No clue," Shinji answered.

"Wait, you said that 'we' barely made it out," Sakura said. "Are there others with you?" Shinji nodded yes.

"There back just a little ways," he added. "They'll be glad to see you guys. "I'll take you to them."

Everything was beginning to hurt now. Her breathing had become labored, and she was tired, very tired. She tried to move her right arm, but it was slow to move and fresh bolts of pain coursed through it. She had the knowledge, but she did not have the means or the time to extract the bullet herself.

Despite her ailments, she had to keep going. While her primary target was now unachievable, a secondary objective was available to her. She must achieve it. She then heard footsteps and talking down one of the corridors. She turned in that direction, her footsteps unsteady, towards her destination.

The line of people, being led by Chapel, were walking down the corridor one after another, Shinji and Sakura watching them pass by.

"I should thank you for helping us," Shinji said to her.

"It should be us thanking you," Sakura replied, leaning against a case that contained a fire extinguisher. "If you hadn't come out here, we would have headed back without seeing you guys."

"So, what's going to happen now?" Shinji asked.

"We follow these guys out, then we'll be out of danger," she stated. A Varagarian then strode up to the two.

"Are you Shinji?" he asked.

"Yeah," Shinji replied.

"Vice Commander wants to speak to you," the solider said as he handed a radio to him.

"Thanks," Shinji said as he took it. He held it up when Burke's voice could be heard through the radio.

"Shinji, can you hear me?" he asked.

"I'm here," Shinji replied.

"I'm glad you're all right. Really glad," Burke said. "I don't know if I got all the details, but I received word that not only you got Joanna out of there under fire, but you helped lead the people that were with you to safety.

"I didn't lead them, I just went ahead and found Sakura."

"Well what ever it was, you did a damn fine job here. "You should be proud of yourself."

"Oh, uh…thank you," Shinji answered, phrasing it in such a way that he made it sound like a question.

"Now, it's extremely important that you evacuate the building," Burke said.

"We'll be on our way." He could tell that both he and Sakura were almost at the end of the line.

"Good," Burke said. "While I have you here, I'm going to try to patch you through to Captain Katsuragi."

"Misato?" Shinji exclaimed.

"That's right," Burke said. "The Wunder is floating up above us and-" Shinji couldn't hear any more as a woman's scream drowned out everything around him. He turned around to find the enemy Ayanami walking towards the group. Shinji dropped the radio to the floor, Burke asking him what is happening in a frantic voice. As the civilians began to run in panic, the few soldiers that were opened fire on her, but her AT Field deflected their bullets. The Ayanami then proceeded to dispatch her opponents. She then faced Shinji, looking at him with a disinterested gaze.

"What do you want?" Shinji yelled as he pulled his pistol and aimed it at her, or at least he thought he was aiming. The Ayanami tilted her head a little at the sight of Shinji holding the gun, which made him wonder if she was confused by his actors.

"You are a secondary target," she told him. "I have orders to eliminate you."

"Eliminate me?" Shinji asked, the gun starting to shake in his hands. "Why?"

"Those are the Commander's orders," she replied. Shinji's eyes widened and his mouth twitched, but before she or Shinji could say or do anything else, he heard Sakura yelling from behind him.

"Shinji get down!" As he did that, he saw her bound past him toward their enemy. In less than a second, she was spraying the Ayanami with a fire extinguisher, covering her in a pale yellow powder. The Ayanami began to stumble backwards, her arms flaying about trying to get away from the choking mist. Sakura continued to spray her until she was out of the retardent. Before the Ayanami could recover, Sakura struck her with the empty tank on her head throwing her back. She followed up with another strike sending the Ayanami to the floor.

"Run Shinji!" she yelled as she prepared to land another blow on her. This time, her opponent stretched out her hand, forming a small AT Field, which sent Sakura flying into a wall.

"Sakura!" Shinji yelled as he ran to her. He saw when he approached that she was still alive and conscious.

"G-Get away," She told him as she winced in pain. "Run…" Shinji aimed his pistol at the Ayanami, who was getting up and wiping the powder from her face. He fired two shots, but they were deflected by her AT Field. She raised her hand towards Shinji, who had now bent down in front of Sakura trying to shield her from any further attack.

"Stop!" another voice declared. Both Shinji and the enemy Ayanami turned to discover that the Ayanami he had known for many months standing in front of an adjacent corridor where she had come from. The two Ayanamis looked at each other for several seconds before the enemy one began to speak.

"You are like me," she said to her.

"Only in appearance," the one designated as Ayanami 01 said. There are notable differences in other areas."

"You are then an earlier model," Ayanami 02 stated. "What are you doing here?"

"To ask you to stop what you are doing," 01 replied.

"Stop?" she asked. "Why?"

"Because he is a person that is very precious to me," Ayanami 01 replied. "I wish for him to live."

"I have orders to eliminate Shinji Ikari," 02 retorted. "Please do not interfere."

"Must those orders be followed?" 01 asked. Ayanami 02 tilted her head a little, attempting to analyze the question before she spoke.

"Of course, those are my orders," was her answer. "What else is there?"

"That is something you need to find out for yourself," 01 replied. "Ikari has helped me with that. He can help you too, if you let him."

"Help me?" The confusion was now apparent on her face.

"You are not just a vehicle for carrying out orders," 01 declared. No one else spoke. In the surrealness of what he had witnessed, Shinji could see the enemy Ayanami slouch over and began to shake, her face contorting in confusion. He wondered what she was thinking to what his Ayanami told her. After a minute of struggling, Ayanami 02 stood up again.

"That…" she began to speak, a whisper at first, then rising with each word until it reached normal volume. "…That is impossible. There are orders that I must fulfill." She then raised her hand towards Shinji and Sakura, while Shinji in turn stood up an aimed his pistol at her.

Then the enemy Ayanami saw something she considered unusual. She saw herself. She at first thought that the other one has stepped in between them, but that was not the case. The clothing she wore was different. She appeared to be wearing a dress, a blue jumper with a white dress shirt and red tie. She knew she had seen this clothing before at Headquarters. It was supposed to be a uniform for school, worn by one of her predecessors, and that confused her. She wasn't told there would be reinforcements, yet this one was blocking her path.

The one in the uniform appeared to be smiling at her. To the enemy Ayanami, she got this sense that she was communicating the fact that everything was going to be all right. That was also something that she didn't understand. She blinked, and the image of her was gone, replaced by Ikari aiming a pistol at her. She saw a flash emanating from the gun. She then saw nothing, felt nothing, thought nothing.

Shinji emptied the clip into her, the bullets entering at various points her body. She slumped to the ground, Shinji still standing there, his empty pistol aiming at an enemy that was no longer alive, his breathing rapid, his finger still squeezing the trigger, not noticing the deluge of footsteps that were coming towards him and the others. Aida, leading a platoon of Varagarians, came upon the scene.

"Aida here," he said into his radio. "Enemy down. I repeat, enemy is down. It's over."

"Who took her down?" Burke asked. "Do you know if Shinji is all right?"

"Shinji is all right, I can assure you of that," Aida replied, his eyes on the boy.

"Then who took her down?" Burke asked again.

"I'll...I'll get back to you on that," Aida said, "but we do need a medical team down here immediately."

"Roger that," Burke said. "I'll issue a stand down order and inform the Wunder. Have the area secured."

"Right," the Colonel said. "Aida out." He went over to Shinji, and being as careful as he could be, leaned over and removed the pistol from his hands. After checking to see if it was loaded, took Shinji by shoulders, and began to lead him away.

"Come on now," Aida said to him. "We have to go."

"Uh, yeah," Shinji said, his voice sounding distant. Aida signaled for two men to escort the surviving Ayanami as a medical team arrived to treat Sakura. He then led Shinji away.


	21. Chapter 21

The pinkish orange light that came through the cracks and holes in the ceiling bathed the old battered corridor, showing the decades of wear and tear. The exposed panels and the corrosion on the walls, was giving the area a general sense of decay. Yet what distressed Kozo Fuyutsuki the most as he walked down it were the memories. Memories of people walking up and down the corridor reading files for their work or heading to their workstation, three technicians sharing a joke among themselves, even a few cases of flirting between the sexes. These images of memory felt so real to him in his mind's eye, they might as well be ghosts.

The experience brought up one large fact for him. This place used to be alive. What is it now, he thought to himself as he made his way down that corridor, a tomb? If so, a tomb to what? One man's ambitions, or to humanity itself? He shook those thoughts out of his head as headed into a large chamber where he found Gendo looking up at something. Fuyutsuki shifted his eyes to see what he was looking at for a brief second before approaching him.

It's confirmed," he said to Gendo. "She's dead."

"That was to be expected, given the situation she was in," Gendo replied. "Do we know what was the extant of her engagement of Wille?"

"Only a couple of firm details," Fuyutsuki began. "We can confirm that there was some damage to the facility, though we cannot determine the extant of it at this time. We can also confirm that she did not achieve her primary objective."

"So those two Evas are still in their hands," Gendo said.

"Indeed," Fuyutsuki nodded. "There is one more piece of information that I know of, and to be honest, I find it…disturbing.

"Go on," Gendo said.

"We now know the identity of the person who killed her," Fuyutsuki stated.

"And how is that relevent to the situation at hand?" Gendo asked.

"It was Shinji that did it." The visor that Gendo wore at pretty much all hours of the day betrayed nothing that could be read from the man's eyes, and Fuyutsuki could find no signs of emotion on his face.

"This changes things, you must realize that," he added.

"Only in the fact that we now have to consider New Constantinople more of a danger to our plans at this point than Katsuragi and her group," Gendo countered. "From the moment I met him, I knew Roji Kagji was a dangerous man. Yet this changes nothing." Fuyutsuki remained silent on that last point, but he couldn't help feeling uncertain about it. Gendo had to have been blind sighted by this development as much as he was. Are there some things that you can no longer predict, he mused.

"We have to plan our next steps carefully," Gendo replied. "There might even be potential to turn this knowledge against them. Besides, there are other avenues to our plan that we can proceed with regardless." The two looked up and gazed upon Unit 13, which was in a squatting position, it's four arms shackled to a circular frame. Above it, a series of tubes extended down, entering the Eva's eyes, nose and mouth.

"We are about to begin the final stages," Gendo continued. "It is my hope that you could see it with me until the end." Fuyutsuki remained silent, but he couldn't help figuring that Gendo was just saying that to placate him. He remembered when they had to escape from Nerv all those years ago, climbing mountains on foot to reach safety. To this day, he always thought that the mule they used to help them carry supplies was a better companion than Gendo ever was.

"I will," he then told him. However, he did not mention that it was not for his sake, or for even his own. Before this point, he would say that it was to see Yui again, and he had to admit he still did, but there was something else now. He wanted to see Shinji as well. He was certain that their plans would have him meet them again. He wanted to see how the boy had changed since he has last seen him. Could it be enough to change the scenario? He couldn't answer that now. I suppose you want to see him again too Yui, he thought as he took his leave from Gendo.

The VTOL craft flew over the night cloaked city, the flashing lights on the vessel joining the lightened buildings in the cityscape as it passed the skyscrapers in the interior rings. The vehicle made its way toward the center where, unlike the rest of the city, there were very few lights in the Tower and surrounding buildings. The one exception to this were the lights that emanated from the Wunder, which was still floating above the city. The aircraft glided to the warship, and landed on the helopad. The door on the vessel opened, and Kaji stepped out and looked around. Hyuga, who had been waiting on the pad, approached him.

"Welcome to the Wunder Commander," he said to Kaji over the machine's engines. "The Captain instructed me to escort you to she ship's conference room."

"Very well," Kaji said to him. "Lead the way." The two made their way, and when they arrived, they saw that the room was filled with people from both the Wunder and the base. He noticed Burke leaning back on a chair, eyes closed, looking exhausted. His clothes looked disheveled, stains on his shirt from sweat and his jacket and tie laying across his lap. Misato, who was seating at the head of the conference table, looked up from the paper she had, and caught sight of him.

"I see you're here," she said in a professional manner. "Please have a seat."

"Thank you," Kaji said as he took a seat at the other end, so he was facing her.

"I believe everyone is now here," Misato said. "We should begin the meeting." Everyone who was there settled in their seats. Burke opened his eyes, and straightened up in his seat. He took notice of Kaji and nodded to him in greeting.

"Commander, I'm sure you've been briefed on the events that happened today," Misato began.

"I read through the most recent one as the plane was landing," Kaji replied. "I want to thank you and your crew for coming to our aid."

"You're welcome," Misato replied. "I'm afraid that we didn't contribute as much as we could have towards the defeat of the Ayanami type."

"The fact that you were up there did give us moral support, and that helped greatly," Kaji said. "But what I need to know right now is the status of the restoration efforts." He eyed Burke, who brought out his tablet.

"We'll have full restoration of our computer systems in about two hours or so," he said. "With that, we should be able to restore power to all sections in short order afterwards."

"And what was the extant of the damage?" Kaji asked him. Burke tapped a few more buttons.

"230 confirmed dead with another 150 wounded. We have major damage to several sections of the base, some of them to the point of unusuability. Computer Room 3 is as good as destroyed as well as minor damage to the Eva cages. And that's just the the top of the list."

"When can we expect to be back to normal?"

"It's pretty early, but I have to estimate around 3-4 weeks to where we're back to full operational status. You should have a rough outline that I included with the latest briefing." Kaji leaned back in his chair.

"Now this is the big question. Forget about the base, how did she even get into the city?"

"We can't say for certain, but Lieutenant Matsu has a very likely theory." Burke gestured to the Lieutenant, who stood up and activated the room's main screen.

"Since it was obvious that the Ayanami type had to come from outside the city walls, we had to determine if there had to be any sightings or reports of her before this morning. With the help of Commander Hyuga and the Wunder's systems, we were able to analyze the city records and come to a surprising conclusion." The screen then showed a still image of a city street late at night. It was a little fuzzy, they could make out a figure passing under a street light in the distance that did look like the Ayanami.

"This was taken around four days ago, on the tenth ring near the wall. And this," the screen switched again to another picture of a forested area, again showing a figure matching the Ayanami. "This was taken the next day in the 6th forest ring. There are multiple images and videos of her walking around, taken by both public and private security systems." The screen then showed a collage of still and moving images all showing the same figure, either in part or in full.

"The most interesting sighting occurred last night in the Red Light District when three guys tried to hit on her," Matsu continued. "She ended up sending all of them to the hospital. Apparently according to the police, they are suspects in a string of sexual assaults in the area."

"We also discovered that there anomalous sensor readings throughout a particular section of the main city wall," Hyuga added. These readings include doors opening and closing, pressure and tempurture differences in sensitive areas. These anomalies lasted about two days. It gives the suggestion that she was figuring her way around the wall's interior trying to find the best way out and into the city."

"Why didn't we hear about these incidents earlier," Aida asked. "If we knew about these sightings, we might have been able to stop her before she even got close to the base."

"The problem is that there was no way to connect these incidents to each other, as there had to be a known pattern in the first place. She couldn't be positively indentified, so how would they know how to look out for her?" Hyuga said.

"We at least could have known about what was happening at the wall," Aida said.

"What's done is done Colonel," Kaji stated. "Is there anything else Lieutenant?"

"There is," Matsu replied. "When we colated the places and times for all these sightings, we believe we found where she came from." The screen then showed a map of city. A single dot then superimposed a spot on the edge to the base.

"This is where she first began her attack on the base, and these…" the screen began showing more dots on the map, "are the various sightings over the past week." The dots formed a line that extended back through the city right to the wall and past it. The people in the room remained silent as they could see that on the other side of the wall was the repair base that the Wunder was docked at until several hours ago.

"Are you going on the assumption that the Ayanami came from the Wunder?" Kaji asked.

"The evidence given makes it the most likely theory sir," Matsu replied. "Even Commander Hyuga supports the conclusion."

"It would make sense," Ritsuko said. "Several of the Mark 04 drones had come within thirty meters of the Wunder's hull. With her abilities, she could make that jump without difficulty. She could then hide in the wreckage until she had the opportunity to leave once we were docked. I did think it was kind of easy to get to the city here. Almost as if we were allowed to make it to this city." Kaji, along with several others, then noticed Misato gripping the edge of her table with her hands, as if she was trying to break a piece of it off.

"150," some of them heard her mutter before she spoke again at a normal volume. "150 of my crew died in that engagement and we were nothing more than a diversion?" They all felt her words tear into the air.

"That's just how Gendo Ikari works," was all that Kaji could answer her with.

"I've always thought of it like this," Burke said. "When he has an objective, no matter what it is, he takes multiple approaches to achieve it at the same time. If one avenue fails, he has other avenues to pursue. Even with his failures, he uses that to set up an eventual success."

"So, it is like in Return of the Jedi when Luke and the others rescued Han from Jabba's palace?" Aida asked. Burke leaned back in his chair for a few moments to ponder the man's words.

"You know, that's a pretty good analogy there," he said. The others just looked at Aida with either confusion, derision, or a combination of the two.

"There have been over the years many conversations by many people over how that man thinks. We're not really adding anything new here," Kaji said while looking at Aida.

"My apologies sir," Aida said.

"And now," Kaji took a deep breath before continuing, "we come to what I feel is the most concerning part of the attack." The room then settled in an uncomfortable stillness.

"Aida," Kaji said. "How the hell did Shinji get access to a gun?"

"One of the Varagarians said that during the retreat, he saw one of technicians hand him it," he replied. "He didn't think anything of it as they needed all the help they could get at that moment."

"How was he even able to kill her in the first place?" Hyuga asked. "I know she sustained serious injuries before she died, but she could still produce an AT Field. Why didn't she?"

"Well, Shinji didn't really want to talk about it afterwards, and I don't blame him," Aida said, "but I did get two pieces of information off of him, as I was leading him away. One of them was that it looked like she was about to deploy her AT Field, but then she froze. He told me that it seemed to him that she saw something. She didn't look away, but it was as if it was right in front of him. He then opened fire without thinking."

"So in the end, he saved us all," Burke stated.

"How many more times must he be forced to be the hero?" Misato wondered, not addressing anyone in the room, but still loud enough for all of them to hear.

"There is another thing he told me," Aida said. "I believe I put it in my preliminary report to you sir." Kaji nodded in reply.

"What is it?" Misato asked him.

"It is that the Ayanami type told him that he was a secondary objective in the attack. To me, this implies that if she discovered him, she had orders to end his life." Both Kaji and Burke noticed that Misato again was gripping the edge of the table.

"We she should be grateful that the Ayanami that is in our custody got there when she did," Aida continued.

"Where is she now?" Burke asked.

"She is currently at the city hospital getting a checkup, though it will be our own medical personnel that will be handling her. The same goes for Shinji as well. Lieutenant Suzuhara is also being treated there." Misato nodded in thanks.

"Why did she even leave when we ordered her not too?" Burke asked.

"I'm not sure," Aida replied. "I haven't gotten around to questioning her about that yet."

"Do so in the next 24 hours," Burke said. He then turned to Kaji, who looked to be lost in thought. "You seem to be quiet there Commander."

"I've just been thinking," Kaji replied. "About Shinji being a secondary target."

"What about it?" Burke asked.

"It could mean that it is safe to assume that Eva Units 10 and 11 were the primary targets."

"I believe it is also safe to assume that not only does Nerv no longer need Shinji in their plans, but that he, in some way, represents some sort of danger to them," Misato said.

"I...suppose that's a valid point," Kaji said. "What are you getting at?"

"For Shinji's safety, I believe that he should be brought on board the Wunder. We would be in the best position to protect him from any further attacks."

"What?" Burke shot forward in his chair. Kaji, in turn, straightened up in his own seat, a stern look appearing on his face.

"And how did you come to that conclusion?" he asked her.

"Our mobility would allow us to keep him safe," Misato answered. "While the fact that, if you're right, Nerv is going after Units 10 and 11, they're not going to stop after one failed attack. Not just he, but all of you will be in constant danger."

"Which would be greater if he was on board, or perhaps you don't remember the last attack on your ship," Burke countered. "You guys are always where the action is. You can't guarantee his safety any better."

"But if Nerv is going to be focusing on this city, he would be away from the danger. If they don't know he's on board, they can't target him, making it highly likely that we'll avoid any large scale attacks."

"We can defend this city," Aida declared. "Our main weapons were undamaged in the attacks-"

"Because they were bypassed, therefore unused," Ritsuko added. "You should know by now that not all enemies are giant monstrosities." Kaji raised his hand, bringing the argument to a halt.

"Katsuragi, I understand that you want to keep Shinji from harm, especially after what happened, but I will only allow him to live on the Wunder under two circumstances. One is if I receive orders from the higher ups to transfer him. The second is if Shinji agrees to voluntarily. If you are thinking about asking him, just keep in mind that he does have friends and support networks here. I believe that if you have him move, you'll be stripping him of those things. It would be doing more harm than good, and I know you don't want to do that." Misato let out a short breath.

"I…see your point, but I will be bringing up this topic with you again."

"I look forward to it," Kaji said. "What are your immediate plans now Captain?"

"Barring any unforeseen developments, this ship will remain in its present position until 0400 hours, then we'll return to the docks where we'll finish up repairs. Ritz how many hours of work remain on them?"

"About 12 hours, I believe," she said as she brought up the information on her tablet to confirm.

"Thank you. I believe it is prudent, considering what we have discussed here, that once we launch again, that we remain within 500 kilometers of the city for the immediate future, unless there is a distress call or if a specific misson has us needing to go farther away," Misato added.

"I agree," Kaji said. "While I do appreciate Colonel Aida's confidence in the city's defense systems, I feel we could use all the help we can get."

"Thank you," Misato replied. "Is there anything else Commander?"

"Not that I can think of," Kaji then turned to the others. "Is there any other matter that should be brought up?" Everyone remained silent. "Very well. Thank you Captain for letting us have the meeting here." Kaji and the other NewCon personnel stood up from their chairs and began to leave the room, leaving Misato, Ritsuko, and Hyuga in their seats.

"Hyuga, could you please leave us?" Misato asked.

"Uh, sure Captain," He replied as he stood up. "I'll be on the bridge." After Hyuga left, Ritsuko swung her chair and faced her friend and Captain.

"What do you want to do?" she asked her.

"About what?" Misato countered.

"You know what I mean," Ritsuko said. Misato sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"I'm not sure," Misato replied. "Shinji told me just yesterday he doesn't want to go with us. And Kaji's right too. He has friends and people who care for him here, and he'll need them now."

"But we can't let things stay like this," Ritsuko said. "If we don't so something, Shinji could end up suffering even worse, which could lead to bad results for all of us."

"I know that, I really do," Misato stated, "but don't you think that people messing with the kid's life has given us some of our troubles?"

"Tell that to Kaji," Ritsuko retorted. She leaned back in her chair and took a breath. "I swear, if we knew Shinji was out of the building, we could have opened fire. We had Burke's order recorded on file, and it would have been easy to claim computer or human error." Those words made Misato almost do a double take on her subordinate.

"They're our comrades," she said, stressing the last word. "We can't allow it to go that far. Something like that would only benefit Nerv in the end. We are better than that."

"But of it turns out they are no better than Nerv, wouldn't that make them an enemy as well?" Ritsuko asked.

"From what I can tell, Shinji is living a much happier life here than he was back then," Misato replied. "So for the moment, they are better. He is better than them. He has to be."

"He?" Ritsuko asked. Misato spoke again, but did not answer her question.

"We'll need to open some lines of communication with the brass. Make some inquiries, call in some favors. If it is apparent that Shinji needs to be moved, we'll need to make sure there are orders from above." Ritsuko then began to chuckle.

"I don't believe it, the great strategist Katsuragi is playing politics," she said. "And they say there is nothing new under the sun."

"I just think of it as another type of battle," Misato countered as she stood up from her chair. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make a phone call to my daughter, tell her I'm going to be home late."

"What the hell is her problem?" Aida fumed as they walked down the corridor. "Why would she call for Shinji to be transfered like that?"

"Calm down Aida," Kaji replied. "None of us are going to let him go unless he wants to go." The Colonel took a few deep breaths before he spoke again.

"I know that sir, it's just that we all know he has suffered. I've seen some of it myself. I don't want anymore bad things to happen to him."

"We feel the same way," Kaji said.

"Do you think that Katsuragi will try to go over our heads?" Burke asked.

"Maybe," Kaji answered. "I'll make some calls, try to get ahead of the situation if that is indeed what she plans to do."

"But we don't need these kind of divisions," Aida added. "Aren't we all on the same side?" The three then heard from behind a pair of footsteps coming towards them. They turned to see Matsu running towards them.

"Colonel Aida, you have a message coming through from General Swanson," Matsu said. "I'll take you to a communication's terminal."

"Very well," he turned to the other two.

"We'll wait for you guys on the flight deck," Kaji said.

"Thank you sir," Aida said before following Matsu. Kaji and Burke continued their walk.

"You look like hell," Kaji remarked.

"I've been through it," Burke replied. "In the end, it...it felt like I did nothing out there."

"That can't be true," Kaji said.

"When she was running unopposed throughout the base, I was in the Command Center, unable to do anything," Burke said. "Aida went out there to try and fight her, Sam was trying to get our systems back on line, and Shinji…well, the less said, the better. Some Vice-Commander I am." Kaji then dug out from a folder he was carrying a set of papers.

"Look, I saw this repair outline you sent to me. It usually takes several hours to have that written up. You got it to me in an hour."

"It's incomplete," Burke said. "I haven't gotten a final report on the extant of the damage, so you need to consider that a preliminary draft."

"That's not the point," Kaji said. "What I'm trying to say is that you're the type of person who keeps things organized for everyone's benefit. You let Hood and Aida do their jobs, and do them better. That's your strength."

"It may be true, but it certainly doesn't feel that way," Burke answered. The two stepped out onto the flight deck, the cold wind cutting into them.

"I…read the other parts of the report that did not concern the attack," Kaji said.

"I was in the middle of reading through some of the data that we got from the Wunder's computer cores we replaced when it occurred," Burke said.

"So they know about Arbitor," Kaji said.

"Its existence at least," Burke added. "This is bad."

"But they didn't confront us either at the meeting or in private," Kaji said. "That suggests they don't know all the details."

"Well as soon as everything is relatively back to normal, I'll go back to the analysis, see how much they do know." Burke paused for a moment before speaking again. "What do we do now?"

"Depends on what your analysis brings up," Kaji answered. "Otherwise, the ball is in Katsuragi's court, and she can be fierce in a fight."

"Yeesh, I can't believe you two were an item at one time," Burke said.

"That's ancient history," Kaji said, the memory putting a small smile on his face. The tower then lit up, its lights joining the rest of the cityscape like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Burke made a silent clap while Kaji looked on the sight in approval.

"Ahead of schedule," he added.

"I know," Burke said. He paused for a moment before he spoke again. "I wonder if Aida was right about what he said?"

"Right? About what?" Kaji asked.

"That we're all supposed to be on the same side," Burke replied.

"We are on the same side," Kaji said. "But at the same time, there is more than one path to victory. If Katsuragi can do it, then we won't be needed."

"True," Burke replied. "I just hoped that if it does come down to a fight between her and us, no matter who wins, it isn't Shinji who loses."

Shinji slouched back in the waiting room chair, looking up in the ceiling. Joanna, who was sitting upright in the chair next to him, looked over.

"What did the doctor say?" she asked him.

"I haven't heard anything yet," he replied. "I hope that it isn't too serious."

"I'm not talking about Lieutenant Suzuhara," Joanna said. "I'm asking about you."

"Oh, they said I was fine," Shinji said. "They recommended that I take it easy for a couple of days."

"I see," Joanna said. "I-I was just asking because you seemed out of it. Did…Did something happen? I know that you saw that Ayanami, but I don't know too much else."

"Yeah, I…I was the one who killed her," he said. Joanna covered her mouth to keep herself from crying out.

"It…It just seems so unreal, that I can do something like that, you know?" Joanna didn't say anything, choosing instead to give him a hug. Shinji, taken aback by her sudden action, was wide-eyed for a couple of seconds before he returned the hug, taking care not to do so too tight.

"Wow, she's making her move already. You're quite the bold one." The two of them turned to see both Mari, who had said those words, and Asuka standing at the waiting room entrance. In less than a second, Joanna broke the hug and sat back in her chair with a yelp. Shinji stood there with a deer in the headlights look on his face. The two ladies walked over to them, Asuka sitting next to Shinji, while Mari sat next to Joanna.

"Did you contact Hikari by any chance?" Asuka asked.

"I tried a couple of times, but I couldn't get through," Shunji replied.

"I'll try then. She should know," Asuka said. She then paused for several seconds, at one point opening her mouth to speak and closing it again, before she found her words.

"I…heard about what happened," she began. "How are you holding up?" Shinji shrugged in reply.

"I was just telling Joanna before you came in that it feels so unreal. I mean, it wasn't as if she and I were friends or that we knew each other for years. And yet, it feels…wrong in some way. I know she's the enemy, and she tried to kill me, but it still feels wrong to me. You'll probably call me an idiot for feeling that way, but that's the way I feel." To Shinji's surprise, Asuka gave a slight smile."

"After hearing that, I'm glad," she then said.

"Glad? I'm not sure what you mean." Shinji said.

"It means that since you feel that it was wrong, but you know that it was the right thing to do, that you are going to be okay," she said. "If you felt nothing or even good about it, then I'd be worried. It isn't like killing an Angel or drones. This is not something I want you to get used to. It isn't wrong to feel the way you're feeling, but at the same time, I can assure you that you did the right thing. I know it'll be difficult to see things that way right now, but in time, I think that you can put this behind you."

Shinji reflected on her words, was about to reply when the four took notice of their Ayanami walking into the waiting room escorted by a nurse.

"Hey, how's it going there?" Mari said to her with a wave.

"I am undamaged," the Ayanami replied. She then went over and sat down right next to Shinji and Asuka.

"How are you?" she then asked him.

"I'm…I'm doing okay," he replied.

"I see…" she trailed off and looked down at the floor.

"I'm sorry," Shinji said. "I didn't want to kill her, but…but I didn't have a choice."

"No," Ayanami said. "It should be I apologizing to you."

"Let me guess, you're apologizing because she was like you and you're feeling guilty for what she did," Asuka declared. "Jeez, what's with this whole collective responsibility crap?" She huffed out.

"It is not that," Ayanami said. "I tried to convince her to stop. I thought that I could save her like how I was saved, but I couldn't. I failed her, and I failed you as well."

"I don't think you failed," Shinji said. "I saw her struggle with what you were offering to her. But in the end, she made her choice. After talking to Asuka, I now think that her choice might have made it easier to make mine." Asuka put her hand on his shoulder and rubbed it a little.

"I understand," Ayanami said.

"Think about it this way," Mari said. "She may be have an advanced model, but you're the smarter one in the end."

"If you say so," Ayanami said. "And yet, I am still unhappy with the way things turned out."

"We all do," Asuka said.

"There is one more thing I got to know," Shinji turned to Asuka. "That stuff you were saying earlier, I got the feeling that you knew something about it. Does that mean—" Asuka put up her hand to make him stop.

"Please...just please, don't ask me that question," she said to him.

"Okay, okay, enough of this," Mari then said. "Let's talk about something less heavy." She then turned to Joanna.

"So," Mari spoke to her, "getting any?" Joanna only returned a blank stare at her in reply. Before anyone else can say or do anything, a doctor came into the room.

"Are you Shinji?" he asked him.

"Uh, yeah," he replied.

"Lieutenant Suzuhara wants to see you for a few minutes. Is that all right with you?

"Yeah, sure," Shinji answered before turning to the others. "Is that all right with you guys."

"Fine by us," Asuka replied. "We'll wait for you."

"What'll we do in the meantime?" Joanna asked.

"I'm sure there's a rec area on the ground floor of this place," Mari said. "I think we went past it when we came in."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, they have stuff like foosball, pinball machines, and I think there's a pool table too."

"Pool?" Mari could see Joanna's eyes light up when she asked that question.

"They sure do. How about we play a game? I can show you how to do it like a pro," Mari puffed.

"Uh…yeah, I would love to see you play," Joanna said.

"Great," Mari said. "You can head over there Shinji, we can keep ourselves busy."

"Okay," he said "I'll see you there after I'm done." He followed the doctor out of the waiting room and down a hallway.

"How is she doing?" Shinji asked.

"Very good," the Doctor replied. She has several cracked robs, but is otherwise fine. Considering the way she was injured, I"m amazed her injuries weren't even worse."

"That's good to hear," Shinji said. The two reached the door of her room. The Doctor then turned to him.

"I should tell you that he had give the Lieutenant some painkillers to help her deal with her injuries, so she's going to be acting a little loopy. You understand?" Shinji nodded. "I'll give you about five minutes or so." The Doctor left, and Shinji knocked on the door a couple of times before he opened it, sticking his head through the entryway. He saw Sakura laying in a bed wearing a hospital gown and covered in a blanket partways up her body. He entered the room and walked over to the bed. He saw that she was awake, and her eyes shifted towards him, a smile forming on her face at the sight of him.

"Hey Shinji, you're here." Her voice sounded disconnected with everything.

"Hey," he replied as he sat in a chair next to the bed. "Feeling all right?"

"I'm fine," she answered. "I was just staring up at the ceiling. You know, there is something weird about looking up at a ceiling you've never seen before." Shinji looked up at the ceiling as well.

"I know exactly what you mean," he said. "Now, you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah. It's because I wanted to thank you," she replied.

"Thank me?" Shinji asked.

"For saving my life," she answered. "I know that it was something that you didn't want to do, but I'm glad that you did it, really glad."

"I…see," Shinji said.

"It's amazing," she continued. "You saved my life two times now." Shinji cocked his head a little in confusion.

"Two times? Wait, you can't mean that the first time was when I piloted Unit 01 when you were a kid. If anything, I hurt you back then."

"I do," she said. "But as I told Toji, you saved all of us fighting the Angel. It's just the same when you fought the Ayanami."

"Really?" Shinji said. Sakura nodded.

"If you think about it, that hospital stay years ago inspired me to go into medicine myself. You could stay that your actions led me to this path."

"W-Well, if you say so," Shinji blushed.

"Do you want to hear something else?" she then asked him, a silly smile forming on her face.

"Yeah, what?" Shinji leaned a little towards her.

"Back when I was a kid, I thought about what you did later on, when Toji visited me in the hospital, and he told me all those stories, I kind of developed a crush on you, thought we'd be married someday. Stupid, huh?" Shinji chuckled a little before he spoke.

"You were just a kid. I get it."

"Well, the thing is, even after all these years, I somewhat still feel that way. Now isn't that funny?" She then laughed for a few seconds. Shinji didn't reply. He sat in the chair wide-eyed, repeating the words she had said in his mind over again, looking for any other interpretation besides the obvious. He tried several times to speak, but no words came out of his mouth. He then heard a knock at the door, and when he turned to it, saw the Doctor come in.

"Shinji, it's time to go," he half-whispered. After saying his goodbye to her, Shinji stood up and followed him out of the room. He thanked the Doctor, and began to make his way towards the exit at a slow pace and in complete dumbfoundment. As he got close to the rec room, he heard an unusual noise, which knocked him out of his daze. It sounded like laughter. After hearing it some more, what surprised him was that not only was it laughter, but it was Asuka laughing. Hard.

"It's not that funny Princess," he then heard Mari shout. "Rack them again." Even though he still had what she said on his mind, he had to chuckle a little once he figured out what happened. He then went towards the rec room.


	22. Chapter 22

"What do you think?" Joanna asked.

"I don't know. I've never made anything like this before," Shinji replied, the two of them looking through the little window on the oven door in Burke's kitchen.

"When do we eat?" they heard Miyashima whine from the couch in the living room, followed seconds later by then hearing a smacking sound and Miyashima reacting in pain.

"What are you six?" they then heard Miyoko say to him.

"What do you know about these things?" Shinji asked Joanna, ignoring the other two. "You've had it before." She turned her head towards him looking confused.

"Well, haven't you?" Joanna asked.

"Yeah, but I'm talking about it where you're from," Shinji said. "Since it was popularized in North America, I'd like to hear your opinion."

"Oh, I see," Joanna said. "In that case, I can say that I've only what I had was in restaurants and in the cafeteria of the training facility. The stuff in the restaurants were better in my opinion."

"That makes sense," Shinji replied.

"There were also so many styles. I mean, I haven't had them all or anything like that."

"That's okay. What I mean to say is how was the taste or the texture. It will help me determine when it is done."

"Doesn't the recipe say it?" Miyashima asked as he walked up to them while rubbing his shoulder at the same time.

"It just says 'until done.'" Shinji answered.

"Let's see," Joanna began. "I know that during training, I got to go to this one place in the city. What they had there blew my mind. It was soft and chewy, and it really sucks that I never got to go there again."

"Wow," Miyoko said. "That must have been some place."

"Uh, yeah," Joanna blushed a little. Shinji then stood up.

"Okay, I'm declaring it done," he announced. "If it turns out that it isn't good, I can still learn from the mistake." He opened the oven door and pulled out a flat metal pan, which had a pizza on it. The sauce and cheese were bubbling on the toasted crust, while the heated aromas from not just the cheese, but also from the mushrooms, peppers, and pepperoni filled the air like incense in a temple, igniting a sense of expectation from everyone in the kitchen.

"It looks perfect," Joanna said.

"Smells real good too," Miyashima added. Shinji slid the pizza onto a cutting board. After letting it cool for about a minute, he cut it into several slices and gave each person a slice.

"It'll be on the hot side yet," Shinji warned, "so be careful." They all took a bite, each person taking a few seconds to chew and analyze it before swallowing.

"It's…It's not that bad," Miyashima said. "I'm not a food critic or anything, but this is something I can see myself eating at a restaurant. Sorry if I can't be more specific."

"This is a lot better than what I've had from some places," Miyoko added. "With my mom, she seem to have this 'the greasier, the better' philosophy when it comes to food like this, so it is a nice change of pace for me."

"I get that," Shinji replied. "I've read that pizza is different in Italy, where it came from, than in America or in other parts of the world. I tried to combine what I thought was the best of both kinds. I don't know if I succeeded or not, though."

"I think we can declare this a success," Miyoko stated. Hey Joanna, what do you—" She stopped short of finishing it when she and the others saw that not only Joanna has eaten all of her slice, but was already reaching for another.

"It is safe to say she likes it too," Miyashima remarked.

"Well, that's a relief," Shinji said. "I'm glad all of you liked it. Since the astronomy club was going to have another viewing party here tomorrow, I really wanted to make something special for them, and this is what I came up with."

"That's nice of you to do that," Miyoko said.

"The problem was I've never made homemade pizza before, so I thought you guys could help me test a recipe out."

"Glad that we could help," Miyashima said, with both Miyoko and Joanna nodding in agreement.

"You guys can finish the pizza, I need to clean up," Shinji said as he began to put dirty cooking utensils and dishes into the sink. A few moments later, Miyoko was at his side, helping with the cleanup.

"So...How are you doing?" She asked him in a quiet voice.

"Uh...okay," Shinji replied at a similar volume. "Why do you ask?"

"When Mom left a couple of weeks ago, she asked me to check in on you once in a while, see how you were doing," she said.

"I see..." Shinji blushed. "Did…Did she say something about me?"

"Only that you were there during that attack. She didn't give me any details though."

"Ah," Shinji said. "That's nice of her. You can tell her that I'm doing okay. It's been a little rough, but it's getting better."

"I'll tell her that," she said. "And you know, if there's anything you want to talk to me about, I'm willing to listen." Miyashima then walked over to them.

"This was great and all, but I have to get going," he said to Shinji. "Thanks for the pizza."

"Let me walk you out," Shinji said.

"Okay…sure," Miyashima cocked his head to the side a little.

"I'll be back in a minute," Shinji said to the girls before the two walked out the door, and made their way down the hallway.

"Okay, you have never escorted me out, so what do you want to talk about?" Miyashima began, "and I hope this isn't one of those 'I have this friend' kind of conversation."

"No, no it's not that," Shinji chuckled. "It's about me." He took a breath before he spoke again. "A couple of weeks ago, someone I know…got into an accident and had to be taken to the hospital. She's fine just so you know. The problem is when I went to see her, and she…sort of confessed to me." Miyashima then broke out into a beaming smile.

"Damn, you must be one hell of a ladies man," he followed that up with a slap on his friend's back. "Teach me your ways oh great one."

"I'm not finished yet," Shinji said. "The thing is, she was on some pretty powerful painkillers at the time, so I don't know if she meant what she said."

"Dude, that stuff is truth serum," Miyashima declared. "She's fallen for you."

"Not from what I've read," Shinji countered. "I looked up some stuff on line, and they said it's a common side effect of those drugs. The people on them talk about things that make no sense, and they often don't remember anything about it when the drugs wear off."

"So you don't think she meant it?" Miyashima asked.

"I can't tell," Shinji replied. "She could have easily gone on about, oh I don't know, her fascination over something like pillows. Or maybe if there was a handsome male nurse attending to her, she would be hitting on him. I just don't know."

"Then why don't you ask her?" Miyashima asked.

"She left the city and whon't be back for a while," Shinji answered.

"But you have a way to get in touch with her, right?"

"Well…yeah, I do?"

"Then why don't you ask her?"

"Wait, I can't do that," Shinji exclaimed.

"And why not?" Miyashima was shaking his head in exasperation.

"Let's say she does not remember saying those things, or if she does, she didn't mean them. If I bring this up, she might get embarrassed. I don't want to do that to her."

"Fine, fine," Miyashima said. "What I think you should should do depends on if you can answer one simple question."

"What is it?" Shinji asked.

"Do you like her too?" Miyashima replied.

"What?"

"Well it's simple, isn't it," Miyashima declared. "If you don't, then you can pretend that it never happened and that's the end of that. If you do, then maybe you should follow up, even if it is a mistake. Hey, at least your odds are better than the average guy who confesses." The two reached the grand entrance to the building, and stopped in front of the doors.

"And that brings me back to my original question," Miyashima continued. "Do you have feelings for this girl?" Shinji took a moment to think about it before he spoke.

"I…really don't know. I haven't thought about it," he said. "I mean, she is quite beautiful, and I admit she treated me with kindness at a time when I thought the whole world was against me, so she is a person that means a lot to me. I just don't know if it's in that way."

"If that's the case, you need to figure out how you feel," Miyashima said. "Because if she did mean it, she deserves to know, even if you don't feel the same way."

"I see," Shinji said. "I have to ask though. How do you know all about these things?"

"I like to say personal experience, but the truth is that I watch a lot of talk shows," Miyashima answered.

"That makes sense. The ways I've seen you strike out with girls, I figured it couldn't be entirely from experience." Miyashima gave him a look that combined dumbfoundment with dissapointment.

"Way to not sugercoat it," Miyashima said before resuming ihs familiar manner. Unless there's something else, I'll see you around." He then walked away, Shinji watching him for a few minutes before going back into the building.

It was two am, and Shinji still couldn't get to sleep. He had heard Burke come an hour and a half before, and head straight to bed not too long afterwords. He turned on his side and let out a breath. He had sleepless nights before, often after Angel battles and again after what happened with the enemy Ayanami. This time, it was not due to the dangers he had faced. Instead, it was about what Miyashima had told him that day, and he kept going over in his mind the question that his friend asked him. Did he have feelings for her?

His mind kept going back to the answer he gave, but there was still something that gnawed at him, that made him feel that it wasn't one hundred percent true. Every time he went to that answer, the question flashed again in his mind, as if it was in bright white letters against a black background. While he was struggling to find an answer, his mind wandered through various thoughts about the women he knew and interacted with, going back to when he first got involved with the Evas.

There were several girls at school, both when he was at Tokyo 3 and where he was now, that he found attractive, and had thoughts about on occasion ranging from the innoncent to the lurid. He also liked to think that some of them were interested in him as well, or at least he thought they showed some interest. His mind then went to the girls at the astromony club. Including himself, there were nine members total. Six guys and three girls, one of those three being the club president. It always seemed to him that there was at least one of those girls hanging around him during and after meetings. He just couldn't tell if there was genuine interest or if they were just being friendly.

Then there were the girls he worked with, both back then and in the present. He always found Asuka to be beautiful from the moment they first met, despite her personality. It was a simple fact that plug suits left little to the imagination. Mari was very beautiful as well, that was apparent after she pulled that trick on Miyashima and his friend. Like Asuka, however, her personality made any relationship unlikely. And Joanna was pretty as well, but he always thought that they were too good of friends for anything to develop. As for Rei, there were times that he was captivated by her beauty, but there was never any attraction, any desire for her in that way. Even before he knew the truth about her, that was the case. It made him wonder if perhaps, by instinct, he knew the whole time.

And when it came to dating or relationships, he knew there were no objections from Burke or any of the other adults. Some of them even encouraged it. They even assured him after he learned about his nature that it was safe for him to have children. What surprised him the most though about it was the time when Burke told him that it was okay to go beyond dating.

'You are technically fifteen years old, but in your life you have done an adult's work, more than an adult's work to be honest,' he remembered Burke saying not long after he began going to school. 'I feel because of that, despite your age, you are entitled to, shall we say, certain adult privileges.' Burke then went on to a explain a combination of general rules, such as no girl could spend the night and that he must take all steps possible to avoid STDs and pregnancy, as well as practical advice on the topic. He remembered listening to him with a mix of shock and embarrassment at the whole thing. It still brought a shade of red to his face when he recalled the incident, and he thought he saw Burke at the time show a little red as well. He has never exercised that particular privilege, and he wasn't sure if he would ever would while he was in school.

With all those thoughts running through his head, he found that there was one question that needed to be answered. Did he even deserve to have feelings for someone or that someone to have feelings for him? Looking back on his life, he could find that there were ample reasons that the answer is probably no. He knew from the start that it wouldn't be due to his time being an Eva pilot. That would be a turn on for a lot of girls. But what about his nature, that he wasn't fully human? If he ever did meet someone that he would get involved, and perhaps even want to spend the rest of his life with, should he tell her? How would she react if he did? Would she want to be with someone whose life was one giant mess, that he was just now beginning to get back together. Shinji knew if the roles were reversed, he wasn't sure if he could continue to be with her, even though he would love that woman.

This train of thought was beginning to tire his mind as much as the rest of his body was, and his mind drifted to other things, and he soon drifted into sleep. He then dreamed that he was in the middle of a tropical beach. The sun was shining, a gentle breeze was blowing against his skin, and the water was a turquoise blue, which surprised him as he had only seen such a sight in pictures and in movies. There were other people of various ages and nationalities on the beach as well, though there was no one there that he could put a name to. What he took notice the most of all those people were the girls. Whether they were getting a sun tan, swimming the ocean or walking on the beach, the one thing they had in common was that he found all of them gorgeous. As Shinji made his way along the beach, they would either wave to him, say hello, or tried to invite him to some activity they were doing, such as playing a game or to join them at a beach-side cafe, which had him feeling pretty good about himself.

He then turned his head to the south, where he saw another girl standing in the ocean up to her thighs. However, this girl was different. She did not wear a swimsuit, and was fully clothed. Walking towards her, Shinji could now see that unlike the others, he did recognize her. It was Ayanami, but not the one he had known for the past year or even Rei. It was the one he met a couple of weeks ago dressed in the exact same clothes, and the realization of that fact sent a chill through him.

He then saw another Ayanami dressed the same as the first one come out of the water, followed by another one, and another one after that, and still more with some of them just having their heads sticking out of the water. He could even see more rising to the surface all the way back to the horizon. The sight of it welled up such a feeling of panic within him, that it forced his eyes open, and left breathing hard with sweat pouring from him. He laid back down on the bed, but he could not get back to sleep. He laid there staring up at the ceiling as daylight began to tiptoe into the world.

"Come on guys," Burke called out. "We don't have all day." Letting out a yawn, Shinji came out of the apartment building followed by Joanna carrying a large tote bag, and a smile beaming from her face.

"Tired?" Burke asked Shinji as the two approached his car.

"Yeah," Shinji replied. "I had trouble getting to sleep." he decided not to mention the dream, thinking there was no point in telling him.

"Some nights can be like that," Burke said. "I know that thing with your school club is tonight, and you'll be staying up well into the night, so you might want to get a cat nap in."

"Sure," Shinji said.

"Until then, we got several meetings on base to attend today, and she gets to go shopping with her friends," Burke added.

"That's right," Joanna said, her smile growing even bigger.

"Don't you have a sync test at nine tonight?" Shinji asked her.

"Oh yeah, that." There was still a smile on her face, but it was a smaller one, and Shinji got the feeling that it was more due to embarrassment than anything else.

"That's why you're her adviser," Burke patted Shinji's shoulder. "Now, we need to get Joanna to her friend's place in the next thirty minutes, so we need to…" The sudden blare of sirens stopped him from what he was going to say. Seconds, later, all three of their phones began to ring, joining the frightening chorus.

"Oh Fudgecakes," Joanna said as she looked at her phone.


End file.
